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Trump and Pence's Remarks in Roundtable with Industry Executives
Larry Kudlow is upbeat. Run for your lives.
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump and Vice President Pence in Roundtable with Industry Executives on the Plan for Opening Up America Again
ECONOMY & JOBS
Issued on: April 29, 2020
State Dining Room
4:18 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, everybody. A lot of progress is being made, as you see. And we’re reopening our country, and it’s very exciting. And it should have never happened. This plague should never have happened. It could have been stopped, but people chose not to stop it. It’s a very sad thing for the world — 184 countries, at least.
But it’s a great honor to have you with us, friends of mine who have been truly great business leaders and are great business leaders. And you’re opening up your company again too, if you think about it, right? You’re, sort of, doing a reopening.
But they’re great companies, and they’ll do very well — hopefully better than ever before. And that’s what we’re seeing. We’re seeing tremendous pent-up demand. And it’s a beautiful thing to see.
So it’s wonderful to have American industry leaders — and that’s what you are: true leaders — to the White House. You’ve been here before, all of you, and we’ve talked about it in different times. We built the greatest economy in the history of the world, and nobody even disputes that. And one day, they walk in and they say, “Sir, we’re going to have to close it up until we get rid of this hidden enemy, this — this terrible scourge.” And that’s what we did. And we did the right thing. We did an incredible job. We worked with the governments. We worked with states all over the country.
We had no ventilators, or very few, from previous administrations. And we became the king of ventilators. We have thousands and thousands of ventilators. We’re now helping other countries with ventilators.
We had old-fashioned tests that didn’t work; they were really obsolete. They didn’t work. They were broken. And we end up — the testing has been incredible now and to a level that nobody has seen. I got a call from President Moon of South Korea. He said, “Congratulations. Your testing is just” — nobody has ever seen anything like we’re doing.
We’ve tested more than all countries put together, and millions of tests and the highest quality test. But it’s — it’s great to be with — with you. We’re joined by Matt Maddox of Wynn Resorts, Chris Reynolds of Toyota, Chris Nassetta of Hilton, Josh Bolten of the Business Roundtable, Walt Ehmer of Waffle House.
And thanks to Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and Secretary Eugene Scalia. That Scalia has very good genes. Where is Scalia? He has very good genes, that guy, I’ll tell you. Scalia. He’s got the Scalia genes, right? We all know what that means.
We mourn — and I have to say this so strongly — we mourn every life tragically lost to the invisible enemy, and we’re heartened that the worst of the pain and suffering is going to be behind us. We think we really have crossed a big boundary, and much better days are ahead. And I often say I see the light at the end of the tunnel, very strongly. This demand is going to be incredible. I think next year is going to be an incredible year for our economy.
I think the fourth quarter is going to be really, really good, Kevin. We were talking about that before. You maybe will say something. And we’re going to be in a transition quarter next quarter, the third quarter. And I think we’ll do very, very nicely there, from an economic standpoint.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank all the distinguished business leaders who are here and the — and the, literally, millions of Americans that are employed at the businesses represented around this table.
And it’s remarkable to think, Mr. President, that before the coronavirus epidemic came ashore, we had seen extraordinary growth in the American economy, not just the stock market setting records; millions of new jobs; more Americans working than ever before. But in January, when you stood up the White House Coronavirus Task Force, you said we had one mission, and that was to save lives and to make sure that the healthcare providers in America would be able to render the level of care to any American struggling with the coronavirus that we would want our own family members to have.
And thanks to your leadership, thanks to the partnership that we forged with states across the country, working with local health officials, Mr. President, as you said yesterday, we have light at the end of the tunnel. We really are encouraged by the progress. In even the hotspots around the country, cases are leveling off, and in some areas, going down. Hospitalizations are declining even in the Greater New York City area.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Mike. And I just — before we go around, Puritan Medical Supplies [Products], a wonderful company, will produce 40 million additional swabs per month starting in May. They’ve opened up a very big process, and that was funding authorized by the Defense Production Act. So that’ll help the states. And again, we’re there to help the states. A lot of states can buy their own swabs. It’s not that big a deal. But we’re here to help them. We want them to be successful.
We had, as you know, the governor of Louisiana in today and we told that story, which has been a really great story. And we had the governor of Florida in yesterday. And that was a great story. These were — just incredible what’s been happening.
So maybe we’ll start with my left. And, Chris, do you want to take it —
MR. NASSETTA: Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: — and tell him about — I know a lot about your company, but maybe a lot of people don’t. Tell them the story.
MR. NASSETTA: Indeed, you do. Thank you, first of all, for inviting me back to the White House. I was thinking, on the way down here today — I’m based in Washington, and I was here about six weeks ago. The world was a different place. We were —
THE PRESIDENT: Different.
MR. NASSETTA: We were not at the beginning, but we were in the thick of it, fighting this war. And we’ve come a long way. We’ve made tremendous progress, thanks to your leadership and the leadership of the administration that is represented around this table and otherwise. So, thank you for that.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Josh. That was great.
The numbers — when you look at the stock market today, the enthusiasm is great. It’s up very substantially, as you know. And I think people are seeing a very big year coming up next year, and I think they’re seeing a very big fourth quarter.
Larry, would you like to say — Larry Kudlow — a few words, please?
MR. KUDLOW: Just a few words. Thanks to everybody, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, and all the business folks, and my friend, Steve Mnuchin.
This is a tough one. I’ve been around a while. This is a tough one. And the contraction is going to go on for a bit, but I like what I hear around the table. And I agree with the President. We will see a growing, recovering economy by summertime and the back end of the year, and it’s going to extend into 2021. That’s what I think is going to happen. And I think the stock market is signaling some of that.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: And it’s great to have you back too. Very talented guy. At least he made a lot of good predictions. Your predictions all turned out. Between you and Larry, that’s a — it’s a tremendous team. Thank you both very much.
Gene, Secretary of a very important thing called Labor. What’s more important than labor?
SECRETARY SCALIA: Well, it is so important. And, Mr. President, I was pleased to be able to tell you earlier today that, as of yesterday, all 50 states in the District of Columbia are now offering the additional $600 in unemployment insurance that was part of the CARES Act that you signed last month. This was an additional benefit on top of what the states were already making available in unemployment and one important part of your program to support workers during this difficult time.
As you know, the states have had some challenges with their computer systems. We’ve been working with them. This is not declaring victory in all aspects of delivering those unemployment benefits, but it is a milestone I wanted to note.
I have been very pleased to hear the discussion among this group about all the steps that companies are taking to keep their workers safe. I think we all appreciate that confidence in the part of workers that they will be safe in the workplace is going to be an important part of the reopening, as well as confidence in the part of business about what needs to be done, and that when those steps are taken, they will have satisfied their obligations.
We at the Labor Department have been working carefully, in conjunction with the CDC, to provide guidance for a variety of different workplaces so that employers and companies know what needs to be done and employees know as well. And we’ll continue to do that.
We’re also receiving complaints from workers who worry about safe work conditions or that they might have experienced some adverse action for raising safety concerns, and we’ll look into those. And we’ll — we have the tools that we need, from an enforcement perspective, if workers’ rights aren’t respected. But I’m so heartened to hear the steps that businesses want to take and are taking to support their workers.
Just a last observation, Mr. President: As you and the Vice President said, just weeks ago we were enjoying such an extraordinary economy. And there were reasons for that. There were policies that you put in place — lower taxes, deregulation — that were vital to what we enjoyed before. Right now, we’re in a period of very important government intervention, and we need that.
But as we look forward at the department, I think it will be important to remember as well the limits of government and that the single best thing for workers is a vibrant economy, and that often comes from allowing free markets and free people to go about their business. We’ll keep that in mind too.
Thank you.
{snip}
Q Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, ma’am.
Q — are you open to making a deal with the Postal Service that would allow it to borrow from Treasury without raising its shipping rates, its package rates?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you have to raise the rates on packages because they’re losing a fortune on packages. They’re losing anywhere from two dollars to three or four dollars a package every time they deliver. So, it’s not fair. And it’s not fair to the people that work at the Postal Service.
You have some of these companies — the Internet retail. You look at that, and they drop millions of packages on the post office. The post office delivers a package, and every time they deliver a package, they lose from two to five dollars a package. And what kind of a business is that?
And you could never replicate the post office. The post office is massive. But they’ve got places and little sections of our country that no company could ever go to. That took hundreds of years to build the post office. And when you look at the size of it and you compare it to companies, it’s much bigger than companies. I mean, much, much bigger. There’s no company that’s the size of that.
No, we want to stabilize the post office, and the way you do that is these companies are going to have to pay more, not the people. We’re not looking for the people to pay. But the companies are going to have to pay a percentage of that — that loss. You can’t do that. The government shouldn’t have to do it. I think the post office could — wouldn’t it be great if it could, after so many decades, break even?
But we’re making a lot of people rich and a lot of companies rich by subsidizing these companies. On top of that, they don’t pay the same taxes as a retail store. It’s very unfair to the retailers. You look at these stores; the retail stores are being just clobbered. And there are so many disadvantages.
But, no, when we deliver a package at the post office, every package it delivers, they lose a lot of money. And that’s not fair. Those companies should pay for it.
Steve?
SECRETARY MNUCHIN: The President, over a year ago, asked us to chair a Postal Task Force to look at restructuring. A year ago, we didn’t have any Board of Governors. We now have a Board of Governors that’s overseeing it. They’re conducting a search. We look forward to hearing the results of the new postmaster. And we think this is a business, and the people at the post office will have a terrific opportunity.
THE PRESIDENT: And we’re protecting our post office, by the way, and we always will. But we want our post office to be successful. We don’t want it to be a laughingstock and a stupidly run organization, the way it’s been for so many decades now. It’s ridiculous. And then we make other people rich. We make other people rich because we’re willing to deliver packages at a fraction of the cost, so other people gain by it.
And, by the way, and you’re hurting a lot of other people because you’re hurting retailers. You look at stores where the stores are — they have to pay rent and taxes and all sorts of things that these companies don’t have to pay. So, it’s not a fair situation.
We want to take care of our taxpayers and we want to take care of — very, very importantly — the people that work at the post office.
{snip}
Q Without a vaccine, sir, why do you think the virus will just be gone?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s going to go. It’s going to leave. It’s going to be gone. It’s going to be eradicated. And it might take longer. It might be in smaller sections. It’ll be — it won’t be what we had. And we also learned a lot.
Again, if you have a flare up in a certain area, if you have a — I call them “burning embers” — boom, we put it out. We know how to put it out now. But we put it out. And now we’re equipped. Now we have more ventilators than anyone thought was possible. I mean, we’re doing a tremendous service for the world right now. We’re giving ventilators.
You know, we have — we’re making hundreds of thousands of ventilators in, I believe, nine different plants that made other products. In some cases, cars. In some places, other things. These companies — General Motors; and — and Ford, in another way; and GE; so many companies; Honeywell — they’ve stepped up. 3M has been terrific. They’ve stepped up like nobody has ever seen before, and the job they’re doing is great.
And I’ll tell you, I think the job that they’re doing on vaccines and on therapeutics has been great too. We’ll see. I mean, we’ll let you know about that in a little while.
Please. Anybody else?
Q Yeah, Mr. President. Oil is up today, partially on reports that the Treasury Secretary and others may have —
THE PRESIDENT: What is it up to?
Q It depends which, but it’s about $25. (Laughter.) But on the suggestion that the Treasury Secretary and others may have presented you with a plan for government assistance to the oil companies?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re not going to let our oil companies go and get in trouble. It’s not their fault that they got hit by 50 percent less volume in one day. You know, one — one instant, all of a sudden, these very great companies that are employing all these people.
So I’m talking to Steve and, you know, we’re — we just saved the airlines. The airlines were having the best year they’ve ever had. And then all of a sudden, they’re like out of business? We can’t let that happen. So we saved the airlines. That’s done. We’re saving other companies and industries.
And I would say — Steve, maybe you can talk to it — but I think the oil industry is one of the top on the list.
SECRETARY MNUCHIN: So, we’re looking at a lot of different strategies. We have a dedicated team, combined of people at Treasury and people the Department of Energy. As I’ve said before, this is not going to be a bailout of shareholders, but this is going to be supporting the national security issue.
I would just comment: The Secretary of Energy has done an extraordinary job of taking in oil in the Strategic Reserve and being paid for the storage capacity in oil. We’re also exploring potentially having the ability to store another several hundred million barrels.
So we’re looking at lots of different options. We’re in touch with lots of people around the world. And the President is determined that we protect the national security interest and the jobs.
Q Do you expect an announcement this week about it?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we had a very interesting thing, because we had a lot of capacity — meaning you can fill it up in the National Strategic Reserves. And, you know, it wasn’t full. And we made a great deal.
If you would have told us that we could have had that filled up or it’s on the way to being filled up at the kind of pricing that we’re talking about, I would have said you have to be kidding. We’re talking about 19 — I’m not sure Chris is going to be happy about this, because it doesn’t pertain to the hotel business — don’t get scared. But, you know, we’re talking about like 1952 pricing. It’s — it’s unbelievable. It’s — prices that are so low.
And, in some cases, we’re storing oil and getting paid for storage because we have a tremendous capacity for it. So, what’s happened with the Strategic Reserves is incredible.
Q And the additional aid might be announced this week? Or do you have the timeline for that?
THE PRESIDENT: Say it?
Q Additional aid might be announced this week or do you have the timeline for it?
THE PRESIDENT: On — on that?
Q For oil — for oil companies.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s — you mean a plan to help them out?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: I would say shortly. I mean, right now, we’re dealing with some of the big ones, but we’re — the big ones are very strong. They’ve been very strong over the years. I think that they’re not going to have the problem.
But we have a lot of great people and a lot of great jobs in Texas and Oklahoma and North Dakota and other states that are great. It’s energy. It’s not — I don’t even call it oil; I call it energy. This is — this is the backbone of — of the world, really.
You know, you can talk all of the green — I’m all for green. But the green can’t power these massive factories that are being built in this country. It just can’t. The windmills aren’t going to be able to do it, and solar is not going to be able to do it. And I love solar, but it’s not going to be able to do it.
And, you know, we’re getting it for the right price, but we’re not going to let our — we’re energy independent. We’re not going to let our energy industry down. We’re not going to let them — and it’s not our fault. It’s not their fault. But we’re not going to let anything happen to them. So we’re working on that very hard.
I think protecting energy and energy independence — to me, that’s a very big part of what happened. You know, we — energy has really helped me turn this country into the economic power that it’s been, and we’re not going to let that go.
And, sure, it’s going to have a couple of bad years. We have a tremendous oversupply. The reason we have the oversupply though — number one, it was a very efficient business. And — but the reason we have it is because the demand got cut in half one day by this — by this plague. One day, all of a sudden — take a look at the roads, it goes from packed highways, everybody traveling, going all over, to no cars on the road. I mean, that was 25, 30 percent right there. But then there’s other things — factories that aren’t working right now because of this.
We did a great thing last night, using the powers that we have to make sure that the processes and — and all of the delivery of our food chain, that it was protected and safe. And those people — we were on the phone with, all of them, this morning — pretty much all of them, as you probably know. They were cheering — literally cheering over the phone.
We did some good moves. Not moves — not money moves, so much as — as commonsense moves. Because they were being — you know, they were being hurt by stupidity. And we have them really back online.
So I think that we put out — that’s called “burning embers,” too. We put out a fire. So there’ll be plenty of meat and pork and everything that you want. Yeah.
{snip}
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
END 5:30 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump and Vice President Pence in Roundtable with Industry Executives on the Plan for Opening Up America Again
ECONOMY & JOBS
Issued on: April 29, 2020
State Dining Room
4:18 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, everybody. A lot of progress is being made, as you see. And we’re reopening our country, and it’s very exciting. And it should have never happened. This plague should never have happened. It could have been stopped, but people chose not to stop it. It’s a very sad thing for the world — 184 countries, at least.
But it’s a great honor to have you with us, friends of mine who have been truly great business leaders and are great business leaders. And you’re opening up your company again too, if you think about it, right? You’re, sort of, doing a reopening.
But they’re great companies, and they’ll do very well — hopefully better than ever before. And that’s what we’re seeing. We’re seeing tremendous pent-up demand. And it’s a beautiful thing to see.
So it’s wonderful to have American industry leaders — and that’s what you are: true leaders — to the White House. You’ve been here before, all of you, and we’ve talked about it in different times. We built the greatest economy in the history of the world, and nobody even disputes that. And one day, they walk in and they say, “Sir, we’re going to have to close it up until we get rid of this hidden enemy, this — this terrible scourge.” And that’s what we did. And we did the right thing. We did an incredible job. We worked with the governments. We worked with states all over the country.
We had no ventilators, or very few, from previous administrations. And we became the king of ventilators. We have thousands and thousands of ventilators. We’re now helping other countries with ventilators.
We had old-fashioned tests that didn’t work; they were really obsolete. They didn’t work. They were broken. And we end up — the testing has been incredible now and to a level that nobody has seen. I got a call from President Moon of South Korea. He said, “Congratulations. Your testing is just” — nobody has ever seen anything like we’re doing.
We’ve tested more than all countries put together, and millions of tests and the highest quality test. But it’s — it’s great to be with — with you. We’re joined by Matt Maddox of Wynn Resorts, Chris Reynolds of Toyota, Chris Nassetta of Hilton, Josh Bolten of the Business Roundtable, Walt Ehmer of Waffle House.
And thanks to Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and Secretary Eugene Scalia. That Scalia has very good genes. Where is Scalia? He has very good genes, that guy, I’ll tell you. Scalia. He’s got the Scalia genes, right? We all know what that means.
We mourn — and I have to say this so strongly — we mourn every life tragically lost to the invisible enemy, and we’re heartened that the worst of the pain and suffering is going to be behind us. We think we really have crossed a big boundary, and much better days are ahead. And I often say I see the light at the end of the tunnel, very strongly. This demand is going to be incredible. I think next year is going to be an incredible year for our economy.
I think the fourth quarter is going to be really, really good, Kevin. We were talking about that before. You maybe will say something. And we’re going to be in a transition quarter next quarter, the third quarter. And I think we’ll do very, very nicely there, from an economic standpoint.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank all the distinguished business leaders who are here and the — and the, literally, millions of Americans that are employed at the businesses represented around this table.
And it’s remarkable to think, Mr. President, that before the coronavirus epidemic came ashore, we had seen extraordinary growth in the American economy, not just the stock market setting records; millions of new jobs; more Americans working than ever before. But in January, when you stood up the White House Coronavirus Task Force, you said we had one mission, and that was to save lives and to make sure that the healthcare providers in America would be able to render the level of care to any American struggling with the coronavirus that we would want our own family members to have.
And thanks to your leadership, thanks to the partnership that we forged with states across the country, working with local health officials, Mr. President, as you said yesterday, we have light at the end of the tunnel. We really are encouraged by the progress. In even the hotspots around the country, cases are leveling off, and in some areas, going down. Hospitalizations are declining even in the Greater New York City area.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Mike. And I just — before we go around, Puritan Medical Supplies [Products], a wonderful company, will produce 40 million additional swabs per month starting in May. They’ve opened up a very big process, and that was funding authorized by the Defense Production Act. So that’ll help the states. And again, we’re there to help the states. A lot of states can buy their own swabs. It’s not that big a deal. But we’re here to help them. We want them to be successful.
We had, as you know, the governor of Louisiana in today and we told that story, which has been a really great story. And we had the governor of Florida in yesterday. And that was a great story. These were — just incredible what’s been happening.
So maybe we’ll start with my left. And, Chris, do you want to take it —
MR. NASSETTA: Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: — and tell him about — I know a lot about your company, but maybe a lot of people don’t. Tell them the story.
MR. NASSETTA: Indeed, you do. Thank you, first of all, for inviting me back to the White House. I was thinking, on the way down here today — I’m based in Washington, and I was here about six weeks ago. The world was a different place. We were —
THE PRESIDENT: Different.
MR. NASSETTA: We were not at the beginning, but we were in the thick of it, fighting this war. And we’ve come a long way. We’ve made tremendous progress, thanks to your leadership and the leadership of the administration that is represented around this table and otherwise. So, thank you for that.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Josh. That was great.
The numbers — when you look at the stock market today, the enthusiasm is great. It’s up very substantially, as you know. And I think people are seeing a very big year coming up next year, and I think they’re seeing a very big fourth quarter.
Larry, would you like to say — Larry Kudlow — a few words, please?
MR. KUDLOW: Just a few words. Thanks to everybody, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, and all the business folks, and my friend, Steve Mnuchin.
This is a tough one. I’ve been around a while. This is a tough one. And the contraction is going to go on for a bit, but I like what I hear around the table. And I agree with the President. We will see a growing, recovering economy by summertime and the back end of the year, and it’s going to extend into 2021. That’s what I think is going to happen. And I think the stock market is signaling some of that.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: And it’s great to have you back too. Very talented guy. At least he made a lot of good predictions. Your predictions all turned out. Between you and Larry, that’s a — it’s a tremendous team. Thank you both very much.
Gene, Secretary of a very important thing called Labor. What’s more important than labor?
SECRETARY SCALIA: Well, it is so important. And, Mr. President, I was pleased to be able to tell you earlier today that, as of yesterday, all 50 states in the District of Columbia are now offering the additional $600 in unemployment insurance that was part of the CARES Act that you signed last month. This was an additional benefit on top of what the states were already making available in unemployment and one important part of your program to support workers during this difficult time.
As you know, the states have had some challenges with their computer systems. We’ve been working with them. This is not declaring victory in all aspects of delivering those unemployment benefits, but it is a milestone I wanted to note.
I have been very pleased to hear the discussion among this group about all the steps that companies are taking to keep their workers safe. I think we all appreciate that confidence in the part of workers that they will be safe in the workplace is going to be an important part of the reopening, as well as confidence in the part of business about what needs to be done, and that when those steps are taken, they will have satisfied their obligations.
We at the Labor Department have been working carefully, in conjunction with the CDC, to provide guidance for a variety of different workplaces so that employers and companies know what needs to be done and employees know as well. And we’ll continue to do that.
We’re also receiving complaints from workers who worry about safe work conditions or that they might have experienced some adverse action for raising safety concerns, and we’ll look into those. And we’ll — we have the tools that we need, from an enforcement perspective, if workers’ rights aren’t respected. But I’m so heartened to hear the steps that businesses want to take and are taking to support their workers.
Just a last observation, Mr. President: As you and the Vice President said, just weeks ago we were enjoying such an extraordinary economy. And there were reasons for that. There were policies that you put in place — lower taxes, deregulation — that were vital to what we enjoyed before. Right now, we’re in a period of very important government intervention, and we need that.
But as we look forward at the department, I think it will be important to remember as well the limits of government and that the single best thing for workers is a vibrant economy, and that often comes from allowing free markets and free people to go about their business. We’ll keep that in mind too.
Thank you.
{snip}
Q Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, ma’am.
Q — are you open to making a deal with the Postal Service that would allow it to borrow from Treasury without raising its shipping rates, its package rates?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you have to raise the rates on packages because they’re losing a fortune on packages. They’re losing anywhere from two dollars to three or four dollars a package every time they deliver. So, it’s not fair. And it’s not fair to the people that work at the Postal Service.
You have some of these companies — the Internet retail. You look at that, and they drop millions of packages on the post office. The post office delivers a package, and every time they deliver a package, they lose from two to five dollars a package. And what kind of a business is that?
And you could never replicate the post office. The post office is massive. But they’ve got places and little sections of our country that no company could ever go to. That took hundreds of years to build the post office. And when you look at the size of it and you compare it to companies, it’s much bigger than companies. I mean, much, much bigger. There’s no company that’s the size of that.
No, we want to stabilize the post office, and the way you do that is these companies are going to have to pay more, not the people. We’re not looking for the people to pay. But the companies are going to have to pay a percentage of that — that loss. You can’t do that. The government shouldn’t have to do it. I think the post office could — wouldn’t it be great if it could, after so many decades, break even?
But we’re making a lot of people rich and a lot of companies rich by subsidizing these companies. On top of that, they don’t pay the same taxes as a retail store. It’s very unfair to the retailers. You look at these stores; the retail stores are being just clobbered. And there are so many disadvantages.
But, no, when we deliver a package at the post office, every package it delivers, they lose a lot of money. And that’s not fair. Those companies should pay for it.
Steve?
SECRETARY MNUCHIN: The President, over a year ago, asked us to chair a Postal Task Force to look at restructuring. A year ago, we didn’t have any Board of Governors. We now have a Board of Governors that’s overseeing it. They’re conducting a search. We look forward to hearing the results of the new postmaster. And we think this is a business, and the people at the post office will have a terrific opportunity.
THE PRESIDENT: And we’re protecting our post office, by the way, and we always will. But we want our post office to be successful. We don’t want it to be a laughingstock and a stupidly run organization, the way it’s been for so many decades now. It’s ridiculous. And then we make other people rich. We make other people rich because we’re willing to deliver packages at a fraction of the cost, so other people gain by it.
And, by the way, and you’re hurting a lot of other people because you’re hurting retailers. You look at stores where the stores are — they have to pay rent and taxes and all sorts of things that these companies don’t have to pay. So, it’s not a fair situation.
We want to take care of our taxpayers and we want to take care of — very, very importantly — the people that work at the post office.
{snip}
Q Without a vaccine, sir, why do you think the virus will just be gone?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s going to go. It’s going to leave. It’s going to be gone. It’s going to be eradicated. And it might take longer. It might be in smaller sections. It’ll be — it won’t be what we had. And we also learned a lot.
Again, if you have a flare up in a certain area, if you have a — I call them “burning embers” — boom, we put it out. We know how to put it out now. But we put it out. And now we’re equipped. Now we have more ventilators than anyone thought was possible. I mean, we’re doing a tremendous service for the world right now. We’re giving ventilators.
You know, we have — we’re making hundreds of thousands of ventilators in, I believe, nine different plants that made other products. In some cases, cars. In some places, other things. These companies — General Motors; and — and Ford, in another way; and GE; so many companies; Honeywell — they’ve stepped up. 3M has been terrific. They’ve stepped up like nobody has ever seen before, and the job they’re doing is great.
And I’ll tell you, I think the job that they’re doing on vaccines and on therapeutics has been great too. We’ll see. I mean, we’ll let you know about that in a little while.
Please. Anybody else?
Q Yeah, Mr. President. Oil is up today, partially on reports that the Treasury Secretary and others may have —
THE PRESIDENT: What is it up to?
Q It depends which, but it’s about $25. (Laughter.) But on the suggestion that the Treasury Secretary and others may have presented you with a plan for government assistance to the oil companies?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re not going to let our oil companies go and get in trouble. It’s not their fault that they got hit by 50 percent less volume in one day. You know, one — one instant, all of a sudden, these very great companies that are employing all these people.
So I’m talking to Steve and, you know, we’re — we just saved the airlines. The airlines were having the best year they’ve ever had. And then all of a sudden, they’re like out of business? We can’t let that happen. So we saved the airlines. That’s done. We’re saving other companies and industries.
And I would say — Steve, maybe you can talk to it — but I think the oil industry is one of the top on the list.
SECRETARY MNUCHIN: So, we’re looking at a lot of different strategies. We have a dedicated team, combined of people at Treasury and people the Department of Energy. As I’ve said before, this is not going to be a bailout of shareholders, but this is going to be supporting the national security issue.
I would just comment: The Secretary of Energy has done an extraordinary job of taking in oil in the Strategic Reserve and being paid for the storage capacity in oil. We’re also exploring potentially having the ability to store another several hundred million barrels.
So we’re looking at lots of different options. We’re in touch with lots of people around the world. And the President is determined that we protect the national security interest and the jobs.
Q Do you expect an announcement this week about it?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we had a very interesting thing, because we had a lot of capacity — meaning you can fill it up in the National Strategic Reserves. And, you know, it wasn’t full. And we made a great deal.
If you would have told us that we could have had that filled up or it’s on the way to being filled up at the kind of pricing that we’re talking about, I would have said you have to be kidding. We’re talking about 19 — I’m not sure Chris is going to be happy about this, because it doesn’t pertain to the hotel business — don’t get scared. But, you know, we’re talking about like 1952 pricing. It’s — it’s unbelievable. It’s — prices that are so low.
And, in some cases, we’re storing oil and getting paid for storage because we have a tremendous capacity for it. So, what’s happened with the Strategic Reserves is incredible.
Q And the additional aid might be announced this week? Or do you have the timeline for that?
THE PRESIDENT: Say it?
Q Additional aid might be announced this week or do you have the timeline for it?
THE PRESIDENT: On — on that?
Q For oil — for oil companies.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s — you mean a plan to help them out?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: I would say shortly. I mean, right now, we’re dealing with some of the big ones, but we’re — the big ones are very strong. They’ve been very strong over the years. I think that they’re not going to have the problem.
But we have a lot of great people and a lot of great jobs in Texas and Oklahoma and North Dakota and other states that are great. It’s energy. It’s not — I don’t even call it oil; I call it energy. This is — this is the backbone of — of the world, really.
You know, you can talk all of the green — I’m all for green. But the green can’t power these massive factories that are being built in this country. It just can’t. The windmills aren’t going to be able to do it, and solar is not going to be able to do it. And I love solar, but it’s not going to be able to do it.
And, you know, we’re getting it for the right price, but we’re not going to let our — we’re energy independent. We’re not going to let our energy industry down. We’re not going to let them — and it’s not our fault. It’s not their fault. But we’re not going to let anything happen to them. So we’re working on that very hard.
I think protecting energy and energy independence — to me, that’s a very big part of what happened. You know, we — energy has really helped me turn this country into the economic power that it’s been, and we’re not going to let that go.
And, sure, it’s going to have a couple of bad years. We have a tremendous oversupply. The reason we have the oversupply though — number one, it was a very efficient business. And — but the reason we have it is because the demand got cut in half one day by this — by this plague. One day, all of a sudden — take a look at the roads, it goes from packed highways, everybody traveling, going all over, to no cars on the road. I mean, that was 25, 30 percent right there. But then there’s other things — factories that aren’t working right now because of this.
We did a great thing last night, using the powers that we have to make sure that the processes and — and all of the delivery of our food chain, that it was protected and safe. And those people — we were on the phone with, all of them, this morning — pretty much all of them, as you probably know. They were cheering — literally cheering over the phone.
We did some good moves. Not moves — not money moves, so much as — as commonsense moves. Because they were being — you know, they were being hurt by stupidity. And we have them really back online.
So I think that we put out — that’s called “burning embers,” too. We put out a fire. So there’ll be plenty of meat and pork and everything that you want. Yeah.
{snip}
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
END 5:30 P.M. EDT
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