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Bridget Bergin: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again everyone. I'm Bridget Bergin, WNYC's City Hall, and Politics Reporter filling in for Brian today. With Mitch McConnell's still balking, the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate has come out in support of a bipartisan COVID stimulus bill put together by moderate Republicans and centrist Democrats in the Senate.

It totals less than half of the Heroes Bill passed by the house, but still includes some of its key components, including extended unemployment benefits and aid to state and local governments. With some benefits from the last bill already expired and the rest running out at the end of the year, will the expressed bipartisan support be enough to gain White House and Senate leadership support? To talk about this and other issues. I'm joined now by Congressman Adriano Espaillat, whose district covers upper Manhattan and parts of the West Bronx. Congressmen Espaillat, good morning. Welcome back to the show.

Adriano Espaillat: Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for having me once again.

Bridget: Congressmen, just yesterday, you wrote an op-ed in the daily news calling for the Senate to pass the HEROES Act, the stimulus bill passed by the house two months ago. The spending in the bill totaled something like $2.2 trillion. This one totals $908 billion and some of that money is allocated, but not yet spent. What's your reaction to the bill?

Rep. Espaillat: First and foremost, we passed the HEROES Act many months ago. The HEROES Act, for the first time, the view ended the vision of the House of Representatives or how should we move forward? The CARES Act and other legislation that we had previously agreed on to address the pandemic really was the Senate vision. It got passed down to the House and we reached an agreement with them, but this was the first time that we put forward our vision. We had a very ambitious vision as we should for the American people. Now, we said it was $3 trillion.

Having said that, we recognized that it was going to be difficult to pass that. We went ahead and we tried to build consensus and we lowered the figure to $2.2, $2.3. Again, the Senate nor the White House agreed to pass or take up that legislation, which is in dire need for the American people. People are really hurting. Women are hurting. I had an op-ed published yesterday in the New York Daily News, which highlights the number of women that are leaving their jobs, the number of women that are leaving the workforce, how women are getting hurt when children are confined to distance learning. It is the moms that leave their jobs to be there with them.

This is so important that we bring help to the American people before we break for the Christmas holiday. Now, we're talking about 900 billion-plus bill that is half of the second proposal that we put forward. It's not all that we need by far. I don't know how tenants are going to fare on this. Tenants are backed up in their rent for three, four, five, six months. State and local government needs additional monies. It doesn't matter how much money we put for state in this bill. If state and local governments are nearing the fiscal cliff of their deficit, they will have to make substantial cuts in their local budgets that will impact the quality of life of millions of people. Public transportation--

Bridget: Congressman, I want to follow-up just to cut you off for a second. On that op-ed that you wrote. It was titled Mothers Need a Bailout, and Fast. You went through and really detailed all of the ways that this current economic crisis and the pandemic has hit mother's hardest, but neither of these bills are really aimed specifically at women. Why do you think is that framing to help persuade maybe some of your Senate colleagues to support this stimulus talk?

Rep. Espaillat: That's correct. We should have initiatives that will translate into real gain for mothers, for women, for single moms. For example, the stimulus check, which I think is important, there should be some additional dollars for single moms or for mothers that are home adhering to distance learning. Again, I want to go back to public transportation. So important for our economy. If we're ever going to open up, we got to have a reliable public transportation system. The MTA, New York City's subway system and bus system has a $12 billion deficit.

Now, I fought for $4 billion in the CARES Act and I fought for the inclusion of $8 billion in the HEROES Act. If we're only going to do $900 million, that will go down to less than $4 billion. We will not be able to get the subway system, the bus system fully going when we decide to open up if we don't have those dollars available. These are the kinds of challenges that we have and unfortunately, $900 billion doesn't cut it.

Bridget: This new package does include some aid to transit in state and local governments. It seems to be aimed at just getting us to April when we can assess the effort of vaccinations. I'm wondering what else is left out that was included in the HEROES Act?

Rep. Espaillat: Certainly, this is not a total loss precisely because of what you said. We'll be able to get through April and then we'll be able to go back to the new administration and say, "Wait a minute. We need additional dollars to get America back on its feet." This will provide a temporary fix for all of this. I am concerned about the rental assistance and I am also concerned about the level of PPP help that will bring local businesses. Take restaurants, for example. They already took a bad hit and they may be forced to shut down again. This is not getting any better. We're looking down the barrel of a third phase of this pandemic. I don't know how many of these restaurants will be able to survive a second shutdown? We got to bring--

Bridget: Is that what you're hearing from constituents and folks in your district?

Rep. Espaillat: Yes. The local restaurant owners are having a rough time as say approach the cold months of the winter. Not many customers are going to come in. They had the original PPP help early on when they were really shut down and it was really just for preparation for the reopening, but now, when they attempted to reopen with the outdoor dining and the limited 50% indoor dining that was originally put forward, they were facing tough challenges.

Now is when they need the help. We got to be robust in terms of another PPP program, we got to be robust for the rental assistance program. I run into people every day that don't know where they're going to get their money to pay six month's worth of rent that they're backed up. That's a lot of money.

Bridget: I'm Bridget Bergin in for Brian Lehrer today. We can take a phone call or two for Congressmen Espaillat. Do you have a question for him, especially if you're in his upper Manhattan and West Bronx District? Call us at 646-435-7280. That's 646-435-7280 or tweet @BrianLehrer. Congressman, when the debate over this relief package started, the state and local governments hardest hit by the pandemic were right here in New York and New Jersey, but now that it's red states, do you think that increases the chances that Senator Mitch McConnell will allow it to be voted on?

Rep. Espaillat: I hope so, but he seems he has no heart. He's really backed the no. He has no heart, he has no interest in helping the American people nor his constituency. Now that the pandemic is ravaging the rest of the country, I just can figure out what planet he's living on, what galaxy he's living on, that he doesn't understand how bad it is and that the American people need immediate help. Oh, by the way, my zip code the 13th Congressional District got hit very hard during the months of March, April, May of this year. They got disproportionally.

I have some other zip codes with the highest number of deaths in the country, unfortunately. Communities of color, 1 out of 875 African Americans has died. We see that 1 out of 1,200 Latinos have died. This is hurting communities of color in disproportionate ways because we suffer from diabetes, and we suffer for high blood pressure, and we suffer from asthma, and other respiratory diseases. These health disparities that have been for far too long around, they need to be finally addressed and that's going to require investment.

That's going to require a very specific investment in our healthcare institutions, in our local community doctors that are having a rough time reopening up because they now have to pay for their own PPEs and now they have to make adjustments to their space with new ventilators and new arrangements to keep social distancing and they have to dig into their pockets while 90% of their patients are Medicaid patients or Medicare patients. This is a great challenge unprecedented maybe in American history, and McConnell is digging his head in the sand.

Brigid: I want to go to the phones. Gregory in Harlem, Welcome to WNYC. What's your question for Congressman Espaillat?

Gregory: Good morning. I'm so glad to be able to speak with you congressman. We met at the convention a couple of years and last February in 2019. I volunteer at the food bank of 116th street.

Rep. Espaillat: 116th street, yes.

Gregory: Yes, I see you a lot. I'm the guy in the bow tie if you remember me.

Rep. Espaillat: Yes.

Gregory: I just want to thank you for all the help you've always given and your concern about our folks up here and congratulate you on your work because we need you. We need Gillibrand in our city and Schumer who I also spoke to that day. I have only one question. The food bank has not been working to full capacity as you well know, is there any plan to help us get back open to help these seniors?

You're so right, I just have to add, we lost nine grandmothers and aunties in our building so far this year. They all were older. I'm 75, so, it's a difficult thing to muster what we need. I just want to thank you and hope you continue to do the work and maybe put some humanity and empathy into Mitch McConnell's brain.

Brigid: Greg, thank you so much for your work and for volunteering at the food bank. Congressman, Greg raises the really vital issue of food insecurity, one of those perennial issues that has only been made worse by the pandemic. Can you talk about anything that is being done federally to address these issues?

Rep. Espaillat: First, let me thank you for the work that you do at the food bank there. I go there often at 116th street and I see the fantastic work that you do and how you really expose yourself at high risk with hundreds of people coming there. You're such an important program for the district. Let me first thank you for the work that you did and continue to do as we face this pandemic.

SNAP is an important program because it provides food stamps, it provides food for programs such as the food bank there, and there is additional funding in the Heroes Act for that program. Now, there will be probably a slight increase significantly proportional to the increase that we provided in the Heroes Act, but considering the reduction that we're talking about in terms of the full scope of what our discussion will be at this juncture.

What I can say is that that will be a priority starting January, it will be an important priority for all of us to ensure that we look at the maps, we look at the data of where there is hunger. Unfortunately, many of our districts in urban America and rural America for that matter also are facing hunger right now.

We see how folks that used to get their $600 for unemployment benefits are no longer getting that and their pockets are hurting and that translates into hunger. There's no question about it. We've got to bring back the $600, we've got to bring back the $1,200 stimulus check and we've got to bring back a significant increase in SNAP.

Brigid: Congressman, another priority I think on the minds of many listeners is how we will go about distributing vaccines in anticipation of the FDA approving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines soon. Planning is underway for that distribution.

Governor Cuomo says 170,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine could be available to New Yorkers as early as December 15th starting with frontline medical workers and nursing homes, but it could take a while through the summer even to achieve so-called herd immunity. I'm curious, what criteria do you want the governor to use for who gets the vaccine when?

Rep. Espaillat: That's a very important question. For some time, my staff and I have been discussing the ethics of the vaccine distribution to ensure that rich folks don't come in and muscle in and then take the vaccine before the very needy get access to it.

I remember with the whole testing process how I went ahead and helped open up a testing site in the zip code of the Bronx to have one of the highest positive rates in the country. It was a drive-through testing site. The first day, I began to see all these very expensive cars coming into this northwest Bronx site, and I said, "Something is wrong here because not many of my constituencies are driving around in Mercedes and BMers and Lexus's and the like."

I quickly realized that these folks are coming in from wealthier counties in Westchester County. The reason why that's happening is because we don't have the walk-ins and most of my constituents don't drive, they take public transportation. We had to fight to very quickly transform that testing site, not only a drive-through testing site, but also a walk-in testing site so that people from the Bronx will be able to walk in.

I don't want that same kind of scenario happening with the distribution of the vaccine. Of course, the first recipients should be those emergency workers and those healthcare workers. By emergency workers, I want to have a broader definition of it. What about that delivery guy that comes in from the Bodega and ask some $50, $70 a day that has to open the door of a lobby, that has to touch that button in the elevator 100 times, that has to knock on your door, and exposing him or herself to the delivery?

What about the cashier at the supermarket, or the cab driver that's taking the senior to his or her appointment in the hospital? These are also emergency workers in addition to healthcare workers. They should come first because if we don't protect them, the healthcare system could potentially collapse. Then you have seniors who have pre-existing conditions, they should be next. The neighborhoods that have been hard hit should be next.

We disproportionately have been hit the hardest are Black and brown communities, we should be next. The governor always speaks about New York providing more revenues, pay more taxes than the rest of the country and we should get more. Well, guess what, neighborhoods that have been hard hit also should be first on line. Let's see how we address that.

Some of these guidelines and public policy issues should be codified, for example, what happens if somebody's caught selling the vaccine illegally? I think they should be severely sanctioned. They should also be arrested and put in jail. These are all things that I think should be codified. My staff and I are working on ways on how we can accomplish that.

Brigid: You're listening to the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin, City Hall, and Politics Reporter, filling in for Brian today. My guest is Congressman Adriano Espaillat of upper Manhattan and parts of the West Bronx. Congressman, President-elect, Biden has named some key cabinet members, I'm wondering what your reaction is to the people he's named so far.

Rep. Espaillat: Whereas he has put I think very experienced folks, I would like to see his cabinet be comprised of more Latinos and African Americans and women. Although he's appointed many women, but I think there's a lack of African American and Latino persons in his cabinet. We've got to see how we must engage those communities that have been traditionally disenfranchised. We will be meeting the CHC. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus will be meeting today with us the co-chairs of his transition team this afternoon.

In about a couple of hours, we'll be meeting with them to express that particular view. For far too many administrations, the Latino community has gotten low tier appointments. This is the time for us to be part of a cabinet at a significant level where we can feel all part of the team that will bring about results for the American people. If we're not at the table, we'll be eating for lunch.

Brigid: Congressman, one more question for you but we have to do our legal ID. This is WNYC-FM HD and AM New York. WNJT-FM 88.1 Trenton, WNJP 88.5 in Sussex, WNJY 89.3. Netcong, and WNJO 90.3 Toms River. This is New York and New Jersey Public Radio.

Congressman, I want to take a moment, I know that you just were on the House floor this morning paying tribute to the late Mayor David Dinkins, pointing out that the very high crime rate in the city started to come down under his administration. Are you concerned for his legacy?

Rep. Espaillat: I am concerned that they are revisionists out there that want to lie about his legacy or distort his legacy. His legacy was one of inclusion, he always called New York City a gorgeous mosaic. When the city was facing the crack epidemic, and let me tell you, in all my years in the city and I've been living in city, I came as a young boy from the Dominican Republic in 1964.

I never saw the city take such a hit as it took during the crack epidemic, it almost went down. What he did was he went and he got $1.8 billion to put together the community policing program, which was very effective in having foot patrol officers in every community that will know the young people in the corner, that will know the small business owner, that will know the grandmother, the parents, or young people.

In addition to that, he opened up the Beacon Schools, a very ambitious program to make the schools the center of the community. I think those were very effective programs and the community policing program began to contribute for the return in New York City and the public safety betterment of the city and the drop in crime that later on Giuliani tried to take credit for.

He also started the initiative to bring back Time Square. We all remember Time Square, as a place where no one should go. He was the one that gave a shot, brought ins Walt Disney, brought in the investment necessary. Also, the Arthur Ashe thing, which was controversial because it was built on Flushing Meadow Park, yet it produced more revenue than baseball, basketball, football for the city of New York.

Finally, the day he brought Mandela in, was what a glorious day for New York City, every neighborhood rejoiced and celebrate the freedom for South Africa, but most importantly, we did that knowing that David Dinkins was our mayor.

Brigid: In your speech, you called him your dear friend and mentor, but you also took on his dear friend Charles Rangel in primaries and defeated his choice to succeed him, a fellow Harlem Democrat. Did that change your relationship at all?

Rep. Espaillat: No, no, I don't know [laughs] if he ever forgave me for that, but he was a gentleman. He only gave me when we ran into each other love and respect. I'll always remember him for that.

Brigid: My last question, Congressman, we started the show with a look at 2021 and the next mayoral election. There are quite a few candidates already in the running. Are you backing any of the candidates so far?

Rep. Espaillat: Yes, I'm supporting Scott Stringer for mayor. I think he'll make a great mayor. He's originally from Washington Heights Inwood. I known him for many years. He understands diverse communities. He's done a great job as Controller on the handball president, and I think he'll make a great mayor.

Brigid: We'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us this morning, Congressman Adriano Espaillat.

Rep. Espaillat: Thank you so much.

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