>> the food and drug administration meet -open session to approve moderna's covid-19 vaccine. stream live and on demand at c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> next, house minority leader kevin mccarthy talks about the current state of coronavirus relief package negotiations. ms. pelosi: good morning, everyone, as you can see and as

i indicated earlier in the week when we observed the bombing of pearl harbor on december 7, the 79th anniversary of the bombing of pearl harbor, i said on that day that our president said this is this is a day that will live in infamy and united the country to fight for freedom. n that war, in world war ii, americans died-- in combat in world war ii. today, we have an assault by a virus on our society, our economy, our schools, our children, our people. we do not have a unifying president of the united states. in fact we have a president for a long time in denial derek

laying and distorting, calling it a hoax. many thousands more people have died because of that. 290,000, today we will probably surpass, sadly the world war ii number. in another few days, we'll serve once again sadly 300,000. we observed 100,000 as if it was an impossible number to accept. 200,000, how could it be true? 300,000 by the time we get through the weekend. let us hope that this vaccine will inspire people to follow advisement of masks, separation, sanitation and the rest. so that they can be prepared for vaccine to hopefully reverse

this tide in terms of these numbers. to that end, i have great respect for the bipartisan group of folks, mostly senator bus some of our folks, who are engaged in conversations about this bill. it is a smaller bill than we think is needed for our country but in light of a completely changed dynamic, a completely changed dynamic, in less than 1,000 hours, joe biden will be inaugurated president of the we have a es and vaccine which hopefully will be approved by the committee today. to go forward. that change in dynamics -- in dynamic enables our president to

to say this is a first step but that we want much -- but that much more needs to be done. so while this has our values which some of the other bills did not, it has a shorter time frame but in light of the new president, gives us time to inaugurate a president, have discussions about how to truly meet the needs of the american people. we should all be so saddened by the fact that these loss of lives an these families across america, approaching the holidays with this sadness in their hearts an we have to make sure they know that we carry them in our hearts, in our prayers, in our thoughts, and that hopefully whatever we do can prevent more, the rate of more deaths from occurring.

more deaths pretty soon, sad to say than lost their lives in world war ii. whereas this covid package which i'm hoping will come to be shortly then has to go on to the omnibus bill. that's another set of discussions that is going on. i salute our chairman especially nita lowey, chair of the appropriations committee, that's carried much of the negotiation but also richie neal in terms of what's happening from the ways and means, frank pallone, energy and commerce, nydia velazquez in terms of small business, maxine waters, renters etc., all of our chairs. and bobby scott in terms of issues that protect americans, american workers. on the p.p.p. we all know that we need more money for small

business and we all support that. we want it to be done, though, in a way that i think is possible that honors what has been said before about small businesses with women, minorities, veterans, native american owned businesses, small businesses, being able to cbsi's to and the meet their needs. nydia velazquez is working in a bipartisan way on that issue. so whether it's in the omnibus or in the covid or some combination thereof, that is the work that's being done right now. i'm very excited about the fact that in a very strong bipartisan way about 80% of the house voting for the national defense authorization act. i commend, as i have before,

again and again, chairman adam smith, chair of the appropriations committee, mr. thornberry, for whom this -- the bill is named, and the ranking member on the committee, for their leaership. in presenting a bipartisan bill. the president threatened to veto the bill largely because it has a provision in there championed armed teran on the services committee who has fought to have the renaming of these bases an important priority. the bill received a rousing vote on the floor, i think it was 337 -- it was like 80% of the house voted for the legislation which the president threatened to veto. it will be coming up in the senate. i don't know what their schedule is until they announce it. ut nonetheless, it is -- it is

interesting to see. because the senate republican chairman there said we're bringing the bill to the floor even though the president is opposed to it because of enaming, also because he wants section 230, the repeal, to be included in the bill. i don't like section 230, it needs to be revised but you cannot repeal it or else you destroy protections for small businesses and entrepreneurs working their way up as we also recognize that some of the organizations that did not even exist when this section 230 of the telecommunications bill in the 1990's, no facebook no google, none of it really were on the scene and certainly not of the size and consequence that they are now. so again, it needs to be

revised. i think there's bipartisan support to do that. i know there is. but nonetheless, should not be repealed in this legislation. we'll see what the president does and what the others do. as we proudly pass that bill in -- a big way, to again these bases were named purposefully for white supremacists, people who had fought in the confederacy -- traitors to our country. purposely these bases were named for them. it wasn't as if they named it about something and upon other research it emerged they said this that or the other. no. it was intentional. so we must properly, and with the process spelled out in the bill, change that. in light of that respect for our country and the people of our

country, i'm so pleased with what we did under the leadership of mr. clyburn, the beautiful diversity of america. this week, we will mark the 150th anniversary of the first african-american being elected to the congress of the united states. congressman joseph rainey. it will come as no surprise to any of you that he is from south carolina. because that was very much a part of the pride that mr. lyburn took. that he was the first african-american congressman was reason enough and he presided over the house of representatives. the first african-american to preside over the house of representatives. and he was the longest serving black lawmaker during reconstruction. so we're proud to celebrate that with the largest ever

congressional black caucus and i erday chip clyburn and introduced a resolution to name a room in the capitol after rainey, ensuring he can take his rightful place in the capitol and in the history books as a source of great pride to all of us. so that is where we are on that. in addition to that, i just want to once again commend all who are working so hard to save lives by coming up with a reasonable compromise that we can all accept in light of the fact that in fewer than 1,000 hours, we will have inaugurated joe biden, a person who has said from day one, 100 million people will be vaccinated, understanding that that has to culturally,

linguistcally appropriate way for people to be able to respond to the vaccine. with that, i'm pleased to take any questions. reporter: madam speaker, you thrown your lot in with this group that's talking about the stimulus package. they are having a hard time coming to a final product. how long do they have to produce the product and if they can't do that, do you then have to look at what leader mcconnell has for sted, which is allow some things to fall away and vote for a smaller package? ms. pelosi: this is a smaller package. this isn't a stimulus package, this is an emergency supplemental to deal with what we have. i think they've made great progress. some things remain, that's up to them, i don't know the inner workings but i think they've made great progress. as always we have to see the text. but i think the values that -- and the priorities that they

have established are what we need to do right away. i don't share your view, again, who knows. we'll see how it goes, but we do have to -- we cannot leave here without having a piece of legislation. i can say this, unequivocally, what mr. mcconnell is putting forth in terms of liability is such an assault on american workers that i hope that the group goes nowhere near what he is presenting. reporter: at what point do you start negotiating directly with leader mcconnell. ms. pelosi: the normal course of events to is the committee through their negotiation and appropriators, you've heard me say again and again, left to their own devices the appropriators can come to the solutions. i've spoke within the chairman of the committee in the senate, senator shelby. i think he's committed to

keeping government open and having a bipartisan bill. nita lowey on our side. those are the two main negotiators in all of this. also again they want to find common ground and i think they're close to that. and then when the committees cannot find their common ground, what is left is what is kicked p to the principal -terms of leadership. we don't negotiate the bill all along. so when that comes, if they have not resolved, which i hope they will and they can, then that's when we would as normal, regular order would be. reporter: this week, congresswoman delauro held a hearing on repealing the hyde amendment. will a bill repealing the hyde

amendment be in the house? ms. pelosi: i don't know if there'll be a bill to do that but it will be part of legislation. i have been an opponent of the hyde amendment long before i came to congress. i would be receptive to that happening. reporter: does it depends on the outcome of the of the senate what the house does? ms. pelosi: our biggest partner in all of this are the american people are the american people. and the american people know that we have to have fairness in what we do. and this is not an issue of the hyde amendment. it is an issue as to the impact it has in terms of unfairness. to women in our country. so this will be an interesting debate. again, respectful of all views. but nonetheless, again, way before i was in congress, as soon as the hyde amendment was there i was thinking how can we

get rid of that? so it's long overdue, getting rid of it. n my view. reporter: you've long been concerned about china. are we to a point now after what happened where maybe there should be background checks for all staff? should that be universal? ms. pelosi: what should be universal? reporter: background checks for aides or interns of all staff and interns on capitol hill after concerns about mr. swalwell. ms. pelosi: i don't have any concerns about mr. swalwell. there are those in the congress who believe, and i am among them, that we should be seeing what influence the chinese, aye been fighting them as you know for over 30 years in terms of

their undue influence at university -our country and the overtures they tried to make to members of congress. in thes of mr. swalwell, spring of 2015, the leadership of the house and the committee were informed that overtures from a chinese person were being made to members of congress. when that was made known to the members of congress, it was over. that was the end of any communication with those people. so it isn't -- i think we should make sure that everybody knows what they are being subjected to. but i don't know that it means we have to background check every intern who come into the capitol. i do think that it's unfortunate that mr. mccarthy is trying to make an issue of this when his -- we all found out at the same

time. the republican leadership and the -- that several members had been approached. we were all at the same moment, the house republican and democratic leaders and the leadership of the committee were briefed make sure you know that. we knew when they knew. and at that time, that was the end of it. what he is trying to do is deflect from the fact that he has qanon in his delegation. think that is a danger in terms of our base here about what the possibilities it and influence on members of congress. reporter: the government funding is going to come up against next

friday after the c.r., could you give us a sense how these packages work. when do they need to come to a package. it is thursday, today, seven, eight days until this is reconsidered. s. pelosi: i give you an example of where why that was not a good day and republicans said they were going to overturn the affordable care act, i knew they were doomed because you have to bring a bill to the floor when you have the votes and they didn't and had to withdraw their bill. being respectful of december 26, the unemployment insurance benefits expire, so sometime

before then, hopefully that is the december 18th date, we would like to have this done, for us, it is several days before because it takes time for the senate to securely votes. o when we have the texan the agreement, then we will have -- make that public and go to the floor and pass the bill and give e senate time to pass it before. if we need more time, but we have to have a bill and cannot go home without it. i believe the administration and the republicans in the senate when they say they do not want to shut down government, that it is possible to do the omnibus and we are close there and there are still some concerns but that's the way it always goes.

and then the covid added to that. in order to have the covid added to the omnibus a and you have to have an omnibus. but i would hope it would honor the december 18th deadline but we can't go before the passage is ready and the votes are ready as well as the fact that people want to get "home for the holidays" such as that is. but more important, we get the job done for the american people before the holidays. we have been here after christmas. we were here five years ago on the budget and i can tell you stories about that if you want. again, it has to be done before year's end in order to keep government open. we want it before december 26 and we want retroactive to

remove all doubt. as an appropriator and negotiator, just make a decision, just make a decision so we can move forward. reporter: on a related note, how worried should americans be at this point that the eviction moratorium will be allowed to expire? ms. pelosi: we should extend the moratorium. there is funding for rent in this proposal which is one of its appealing features that the mcconnell proposal does not even reference. but it's one thing to have money to pay the rent and that is a big event. it would be important to extend the moratorium. but again, that's part of their negotiation. thank you all very much. captioning performed by the national captioning institute,

which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org >> next house minority leader talked about the negotiations and some of the challengeses facing small business owners. he was joined by several republican leaders at this conference. >> ready to roll, leader. mr. mccarthy: thank you all for coming. almost a week ago today, speaker nancy pelosi finally admitted to what every member standing behind me, she sabotaged the covid relief bill simply because of an election. she put politics before people. it was more important for her to hurt president trump