CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Interview with Gavin Newsom

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Governor Newsom, thanks so much for joining us.

So, you're facing a $54 billion budget deficit. I asked White House adviser Kevin Hassett about whether the White House would support money for states.

I want you to take a listen to what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, CHAIRMAN, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: I think that it's just premature.

We think that we have a little moment, the luxury of a moment, to learn about what's going on.

President Trump has signaled that, while he doesn't want to bail out the states, he's willing to help cover some of the unexpected COVID expenses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, the position of the White House seems to be that any money for states would be premature.

What's your response, sir?

NEWSOM: Well, it's not charity.

I mean, a year ago, Jake, we were running a $21.5 billion surplus. And here we are at $54.3 billion budget deficit that is directly COVID- induced. We have been managing our budget effectively, efficiently, paying down our long-term pension obligations.

We had a bond rating that went up twice last year, the highest in decades. So, we're not looking for charity. We're not looking for handouts. It's social responsibility, at a time when states not just California, large and small, all across this country, cities and counties, large and small, all across this country are facing unprecedented budgetary stress.

It is incumbent upon the federal government to help support these states through this difficult time.

TAPPER: Well, the House passed a bill on Friday night with money for states, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has suggested it's dead on arrival.

Can you explain what you think will happen to California if the federal government doesn't give you money to help you out?

NEWSOM: Well, these same folks that say it's dead on arrival, I hope they will consider this.

The next time they want to salute and celebrate our heroes, our first responders, our police officers and firefighters, consider the fact that they are the first ones that will be laid off by cities and counties.

The folks that are out there, the true heroes of this pandemic are health care workers and nurses. Those county health systems have been ravaged. Their budgets have been devastated and depleted, their budget counts depleted since this pandemic. They're the first ones to be laid off.

So, we have got to square our rhetoric with the reality. Twenty percent of Americans are unemployed. In a few weeks, over 100,000 Americans will have lost their lives. These are Depression era unemployment numbers, and we have to own up to that.

So, I'm not looking to score cheap political points, but I do want to make this point, Jake. We have an obligation, a moral, an ethical obligation to American citizens all across this country to help support cities, states and counties.

TAPPER: You talked about the budget surplus that California had.

There are some who say that California wasn't in great financial shape. Stanford Professor Joe Nation, a former Democratic state lawmaker, says that California has more than a trillion dollars in pension debt.

And just six months before the crisis began, he warned that -- quote -- "Even a mini-recession in which pension systems assets fall by one- half, Great Recession levels, would be a horrible development. Schools and municipal governments would be forced to cut even further. Taxpayers would be asked to chip in more. Public employees would face layoffs and salary cuts" -- unquote.

How much of the crisis you're in right now is due to preexisting financial obligations?

NEWSOM: None.

That $54.3 billion is direct result of COVID-19. Just a few months ago, I introduced my January budget with, again, a projected surplus. We paid off 100 percent of our wall of debt we had paid -- we had inherited over seven or eight years ago.

We were using $9.13 billion of the surplus last year to pay down long- term pension obligations. So, Joe is absolutely right as it relates to the unfunded liabilities that states all across this country are facing. But it relates to the operating accounts of the state.

They were never healthier, the reserves never higher. And so this is a direct result of a global pandemic manifesting in different ways all across this world, around the globe, and across this country.

And so I, with respect, will just caution people to look at this as a frame of charity, when it's fundamental purpose of government. It's to protect people's safety and to protect their well-being.

This is a moment where we need to meet the moment head on and acknowledge this is not a red issue or a blue issue. This has impacted every state in America.

[09:25:00]

TAPPER: President Trump announced a new initiative on Friday to produce hundreds of millions of doses of a yet-to-be discovered coronavirus vaccine, hopefully by the end of 2020, he says.

Do you anticipate that the U.S. will have a vaccine by the end of the year? Are you confident also that the U.S. has the infrastructure in place to not only manufacture it, but administer it?

NEWSOM: I'm confident there may be what we approximate is a vaccine, but I am very concerned about the second, latter part of your question, which is the manufacturing capacity at scale, global manufacturing capacity at scale, and the logistics in the administration of that vaccine.

And so I am -- I'm hopeful. And I think it's good to be optimistic, but we have to also be sobered by the reality of the application. Even if you have a vaccine, its ability to be distributed is challenging.

And always we must be considerate of an infrastructure that protects the most vulnerable, not just the well-heeled and connected.

TAPPER: I want to ask you.

There is a -- there seem to be a lot of individuals out there in your state and across the country, certainly in Washington, D.C., that think all of this was an overreaction, that the death toll, while bad, was never going to be in the millions, and that people like you who took aggressive action really were overreacting and harming your economies, in the name of precaution, but in a way that was unnecessary.

What's your response to them, because you see them all over the country, people like this, who are frustrated about the economic pain?

NEWSOM: Look, I deeply understand the stress and the anxiety that people have, that entire dreams have been torn asunder because of these shutdowns and their savings accounts depleted and their credit ratings destroyed.

And so I'm deeply empathetic to that and deeply understanding of where that anxiety and angst comes from. But with all the information we had at the time -- it wasn't just Democrats and Republicans -- it was universal that people felt we needed to meet the moment head on and do the one thing that, non-pharmaceutically, we could do.

And that was physically distance from one another, practice social distancing. Now, the president himself on down, Democrats, Republicans all throughout this state and this nation in those early stages felt that was appropriate.

The question is, how do you toggle back and make meaningful modifications to the stay-at-home order? And that's where we're now in this point of friction and a lot of frustration in cities, counties, not just states, all across the country.

TAPPER: Let's talk about California schools.

Your superintendent says reopening will be up to individual school districts. Some of those districts are considering partial remote learning, smaller class sizes, a staggered schedule.

President Trump has vowed that -- quote -- "Schools are going to be open."

Is he right? Will schools in California be open this fall?

NEWSOM: I think some schools will not be. Many schools will be.

And it's all conditioned on our ability to not only keep our children safe, but to keep staff and faculty safe, to keep the community safe. So, it's all predicated on data, on science, on not just observed evidence, the reality on the ground.

Each part of California is unique and distinctive. Each region, each region of the United States is unique and distinctive. And certain conditions will present themselves favorably, some unfavorably.

So, I think it's a question that is a difficult one to answer in absolute terms. There's nuance. But we are moving forward, in hope and expectation that we can start that school year very strategically and methodically, again, based upon the health as a prime frame of reference in terms of those decisions.

TAPPER: The CDC issued a warning this week about this new multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children that's associated with coronavirus.

Several children in California are suffering from this disease, as you know. What can you tell us about this new disease? How worried do you think parents should be?

NEWSOM: Well, we're monitoring it very closely.

We haven't seen the kind of outbreaks. And that's on the basis of the monitoring of that. We are not seeing the outbreaks we have seen in other parts of the country.

But, look, I'm a father of four kids, and deeply anxious about their health and safety, as every parent watching is as well. And so it's just another proof point. Those that claim we know what we know about this pandemic, it was 90 days ago no one even knew the word COVID, let alone what corona actually meant.

And so we are in a situation where, every day, we have to be humbled by what we don't know, and we have to be open to argument, interested in evidence. You cannot be ideological about this disease, and nor -- forgive me for belaboring -- can we be naive.

If history doesn't repeat itself, it certainly rhymes. And the realities of previous pandemics around the globe and those we experienced in the United States suggest not just second waves, but potential third waves.

[09:30:08]

And so one has to be very, very sober as we move forward to this next round of reopenings, and do so with the modifications that are required of the moment, and I think a humbleness of spirit on all sides of the political aisle that's also needed at this moment.

TAPPER: You have said mass gatherings would be negligible, at best, until there's a vaccine.

Can you paint a picture of what life is going to look like in the fall in California? Will there not be concerts, no sporting events, no weddings?

NEWSOM: Well, the reality is, about 75 percent of our economy is already open in the state of California, with modifications.

We have seen dozens of counties that have moved more quickly through what we refer to in this state as stage two, where restaurants are reopening, office, manufacturing, logistics, warehousing operations and the like. But it's with modifications.

So, when you look for the future, you have got to paint a picture of those modifications, where people are practicing physical distancing, or should be, where people are putting face coverings on when they otherwise are coming into contact with strangers.

But the idea of having stadiums filled with 80-plus-thousand people, strangers coming together across their differences, as much as we want to see that happen, and the spirit and the pride that comes from people coming together in that respect, the health consequences could be profound and devastating and set back all the progress we have made.

So, we are moving into that very cautiously, working with all the major leagues across the spectrum, to make sure that we are not promoting things or promising things we can't deliver.

TAPPER: Tesla CEO Elon Musk defied California's stay-at-home orders this week to open his Fremont plant, which has more than 10,000 workers. Ultimately, the county blinked and let him open that plant.

Democratic state lawmaker Lorena Gonzalez responded -- quote -- "We should be outraged by a billionaire that has gotten so much from its partnership in California, but continues to put workers in unsafe conditions, continues to union-bust, continues to wave his finger at California, as if we're supposed to allow that and let him throw his temper tantrum" -- unquote.

Cutting through some of the -- some of the rhetoric there, is that lawmaker right that Tesla got preferential treatment here?

NEWSOM: No.

They moved. They challenged the stay-at-home order that Alameda County had in place. And I will remind you, the state had lifted the manufacturing requirements, so other manufacturers around the state were able to operate. Alameda County had not. They intended to on Monday, on the 18th of May.

They tested that. They came together. And they were able to work out a framework of modifications to keep their workers safe that they believe will have this issue resolved by as early as Monday.

And that's the spirit of cooperation. And I say that to make this point. We're being challenged, hundreds of examples, just not as high- profile as Tesla. All across this country, every single day, governors are being challenged, local health officials being challenged.

And it's a spirit of collaboration. Those that continue to pursue things that put people in harm's risk, you have to have stepped-up efforts of enforcement and sanction. But that was not the case in respect to Tesla.

They did work with Alameda County partners. And Alameda County health officials are satisfied that they are likely to reach those thresholds as early as Monday.

TAPPER: All right, California Governor Gavin Newsom, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time. Stay safe.

NEWSOM: Great to be with you. Thanks.

Source