CNN "Newsroom" - Interview with Kim Schrier

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLACKWELL: With me now, Democratic Representative Kim Schrier of

Washington state. She is one of 17 physicians currently in Congress. Congresswoman Schrier, thanks so much for being with us.

REP. KIM SCHRIER (D-WA): Thank you, Victor.

So let's start here. Much of the conversation Friday heading into the weekend was about how to and when to get the economy going again, get people back to work. The experts say that massive testing and tracking will be required. We get that the U.S. was off to a fumbly start in February and a portion of March, but how can Congress get this country ahead of the ball so that this can be accelerated to get people back to work?

SCHRIER: Well, Victor, you're absolutely right that if we just go back to life as normal, predictions here in Washington state, we were the first hit, and our governor and public health departments were so great that they put into effect really good measures early. We are seeing our curve flatten, but they're predicting on June 1st only two percent of our population will have had this, which means we are just as naked now as we were a couple months ago, and if we go back to life as normal we will just get another peak.

And so really going back depends on having robust testing, see who's safe, see who's not, immediately test, isolate, and quarantine contacts of anybody who tests positive. And I have to tell you that Congress has done everything we can do. We are constantly asking the administration to enact the Defense Production Act and step up our number of swabs and tests. We put money in that big bill to do just that. And some things are just in the administration's hands.

BLACKWELL: So let me ask you which test now? Because we heard from the point person from the administration that there could be tens of millions of these antibody tests available, he believes in May. Should that be the focus? Less focus on who has COVID-19, and more of a focus on who had it?

SCHRIER: They're really practically one in the same. So one test who has it now, and that informs who gets isolated and quarantined so that we don't have another peak. The other is, who has already been exposed and infected who we didn't even know about. We know that there have been asymptomatic or really mild cases, and hopefully those people are immune. I should note that with many, with most diseases, once you have antibodies, you are immune to that disease, but we don't have proof of that with this one. And so we will need to be careful to not assume too much, to not assume that once you have been infected that you are immune, at least for this season.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about potentially the next relief bill, effort for here. And there's some pushback from Republicans about moving on too quickly. Let me put up a tweet from Senator John Cornyn in which he says "The ink barely dry on the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, money largely not yet out the door, except for paycheck protection, and Schumer and Pelosi to seek more spending for spending's sake. We need to make sure what we have already done works as intended, then move to fill in the gaps." How about that, is it too soon to move on to this fourth bill to respond?

[10:10:02]

SCHRIER: It is not too soon. We are hearing from hospitals, doctors' offices, who are in danger of closing because they stopped all elective procedures. They are very much in debt, they're paying their staff, or in some cases furloughing staff, and they're going to need help. We're also hearing from small cities, towns, counties, that they are going to run out of money as soon as next month because they are not getting their usual sources of income. And so we already know that the need will be tremendous. We knew that that third big $2.2 trillion bill was just a down payment. And frankly, we need to do whatever it takes to rescue the country.

BLACKWELL: Speaking of rescues, you've sponsored a bill for rural hospitals, your district, east of Seattle, east of Tacoma, and a large rural area with some smaller hospitals, to get $1,000, if I understand this correctly, we have got a couple of the principles up, put on the screen, $1,000 per patient per day of the period -- the first four months -- first quarter of 2019 to kind of fill for the missing patients that they would have had while waiting for the surge. Am I getting that right?

SCHRIER: So it's actually slightly different. So it's for patients who are in right now, an extra $1,000 per patient per day. And that is basically making up for the fact that most of the patients who are in now, if they're even in, are lower reimbursement patients, Medicaid, Medicare. And then to take the revenue from 2019 for the first quarter and basically say, whatever that was, we're going to give you that amount for this year.

You have to remember, just in case that is sounding too generous to people out there, our rural hospitals are critical access hospitals, they're always hanging on by a thread or under water. And now we've asked them to stop all elective procedures, and in many of these rural communities they haven't quite yet been touched by coronavirus, and yet once they are, they are incredibly vulnerable. And so we're basically asking them to sit, to not do anything, and to wait for a tsunami, and that means they are losing money, they're bleeding money, and they need extra help.

BLACKWELL: Representative Kim Schrier pointing out that small hospitals are often in a precarious position, even if there is no major crisis like what we're seeing. Congresswoman, thanks so much for your time this morning.

SCHRIER: Thank you, good day.

Source