CNN "Newsroom" - Interview with Tina Smith

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me now to discuss is Minnesota Senator, Tina Smith. She is a Democrat who sits on the Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Senator Smith good to see you. SEN. TINA SMITH (D-MN): Good to see you, too, Fredricka. It's great

to be on.

WHITFIELD: Wonderful. So, how close are you and your colleagues to reaching this deal?

SMITH: Well, by all accounts, we are quite close. There has been a lot of really productive discussions and you know, listening to stories of those small business owner right before I came on to talk with you, I've heard the same stories myself in Minnesota.

Little businesses that are -- they have weeks, not months of cash in order to make it through a situation like this, and actually, this is what we Democrats have been fighting for and I'm glad people are coming in our direction to make sure that the dollars are getting down to those smallest businesses that are really struggling. These businesses that are -- you know, these are people's lives and souls and dreams.

WHITFIELD: It's everything. And so, so many of the smaller businesses, I mean, the small of the small, who didn't get, you know, any kind of grant money, you know, emergency loan money. Nothing.

Do you feel like this next wave is going to be enough to cover them all?

SMITH: Well, we wanted to make sure that they did get access to that, and that all of the loans didn't go to the bigger businesses and the big banks, that community banks working on Main Street had a chance to really help their customers, and help businesses that are small businesses, minority-owned businesses that don't have that kind of banking relationship.

So I am really optimistic and I also don't know that this is going to be all that we need to do. I think that we can't really see how deep this is going to go.

WHITFIELD: Do you think the execution will be different? Because there was criticism from a lot of really small businesses who said, yes, like you said, they didn't have a relationship with the bank so didn't really know.

They were trying to navigate, and the next thing you know, once they got through the whole application process, moneys run out. So, do you think the same process will be under way, or is that being reformed?

SMITH: Right. Well, that's what we're working on. That's what really have been pushing for. And as I said, I'm glad that the administration has come our way on this.

I think everybody wants to get these dollars out to small businesses. We just need to make sure they're getting there. And you know, I'm thinking about a story I heard last week about a small community bank in Minnesota who called up one of their customers in St. Paul, a business that has been a staple of St. Paul for decades, and when they told them that they had gotten that loan, the owner of the business literally fell on the floor crying, because he had been so scared that he was going to lose his business.

And those are the people that we are -- we have to keep our focus on here.

WHITFIELD: Yes. CNN has learned that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his members this morning that demands for food stamps, state and local funding, will not be included in this final package. Is that a mistake?

SMITH: Well, I think is a mistake. We can see the huge demand for -- at food banks across the country. Certainly, here in Minnesota. Families that never thought they would be waiting in line for a box of food for their families.

You know, you think about state and local aid. What is that really? That is help to make sure that police officers and firefighters can stay on the job. It is help to make sure that counties that are dealing with an upsurge of people experiencing homelessness have the ability to shelter those people. That's what we're talking about here, and that's what we've been fighting for.

WHITFIELD: Some of the money will go towards testing. What do you want to see ultimately? I mean, to make a real big dent because you're hearing from all of these states who say, we may have some components of testing, but we don't have entire testing kits.

SMITH: Well, I have to say that I'm just so angry at the way this administration has handled this testing. Too slow, too late, not coordinated, not comprehensive and unfortunately, we can't really legislate competence here.

So, we are fighting in this legislation, which I hope we'll be able to pass as soon as the next few days, to get additional resources for testing, and I have been leading efforts with my colleagues in the Senate to have -- let's do a scan of where we are with testing.

Let's have an inventory. Let's figure out where the gaps are and then let's have a coordinated plan to fill the gaps, and that I hope will be included in this package.

WHITFIELD: All right. Senator Tina Smith. Be well. Thank you so much. Good luck because a lot of people need a whole lot of help.

SMITH: Thank you so much.

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