Transcript of Pelosi Interview on CNBC’s Mad Money with Jim Cramer

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Jim Cramer on CNBC's Mad Money to discuss the ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic, including the recently introduced The Heroes Act, House Democrats' bold legislation to address the COVID-19 health and economic crisis. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Jim Cramer. There's no sugar-coating this. We need another rescue package from the Feds to go to the next stage of re-opening the economy. Without more aid for smaller retailers, restaurants, non-profits, we're in a world of nation-wide hurt where only the biggest chains are left standing. Every other entity and the people who work at them will be left behind, far behind.

Now, there is another rescue package that's on the table. This morning the Democrats in the House of Representatives unveiled a new $3 trillion stimulus bill that they're calling The Heroes Act.

While the Republicans in the Senate have come out in opposition, dismissing it as a Democratic wish list, there is some good stuff in here like a badly needed $1 trillion for cash-strapped state and local governments, another round of $1,200 stimulus checks with an extra — for each of your dependents, more funding for Unemployment Insurance and the Payroll Protection Program and $75 billion for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, which you know we need.

I think this is sensible opening bid for the Democrats given the economy is still sputtering. And we don't want a health crisis to turn into a credit crisis. Something Republicans don't want. They have got to avoid it, too.

Don't take it from me. Let's go right to the source with Nancy Pelosi. She's the Democratic Speaker of the House. Let's learn more about this bill and whether she can get it passed. Speaker Pelosi, welcome back to Mad Money.

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you. Lovely to be here with you. Thank you. I wish it were under other circumstances, but we have big decisions to make to help the American people.

Jim Cramer. Yes. Yes, we do Madam Speaker. Let's get right to it.

Without this, are we on the verge of something that exceeds the Great Depression, both for unemployment and for, just, I would say, the ability of our country to come back? The longer this goes on, the worse it's going to be.

Speaker Pelosi. Well, and the more it's going to cost in terms of lives and livelihood, and to our economy writ large. I do believe that as horrible as we've read the Great Depression was, it wasn't compounded by a threat to the lives of the American people.

Everyone is familiar with the numbers: over 80,000 people have died; 1.3 million-plus people have been infected; 30 million people on Unemployment Insurance. These numbers are unimaginable.

So, the combination of the two, the synergy of it all, is just horrific and we have to act. And that's why we want to open the economy and our schools. But, to do so, we must test, test, test. Everyone agrees to that except that there are those who have not made a decision to do that.

So, we have, in our plan, not only the money for testing, but all the health care that goes with that, the assistance to hospitals and care in addition to testing and tracing. So, it's a big ticket item and it's a decision. And, if we don't do it, we will not get a handle on how big this virus challenge is, and we won't understand the disparity with which it is attacking different communities. So if we test, we can diagnose, we can treat and trace, so we stop the spread of it. Then, we can open our schools and our economy. And we want to do it all as safely and as soon as possible.

At the same time, we want to honor our heroes in all of this: our health care workers, all the first responders, whether it's sanitation or transportation or teachers, the list goes on of those who have risked their lives to save lives. And they now may lose their jobs. And our way of honoring them is not just with words, but with actions and supporting the state and local governments for their coronavirus outlays and for their lost revenue. And then, of course, money in the pocket while people are suffering. You listed some of the things –

Jim Cramer. Sure.

Speaker Pelosi. – and I would say to those who say we should have a pause, well, as you know, hunger doesn't have a pause. Bills don't have a pause. Rent doesn't have a pause. The list – just the pain of those who are out of work doesn't have a pause until we can open our economy and do so in a scientifically safe way.

It's no mystery. The scientists also agree: test, trace, treat, isolate.

Jim Cramer. But Madam Speaker, if we don't get a vaccine, we can test all we want and we can treat all we want, but it will never be the same. We might be in a rut for a long time.

Speaker Pelosi. Quite frankly, the testing, tracing and treating is something that we know that we can do. It's within our grasp. We haven't done it. Even though our first bill in March – a bipartisan bill, on March 4th, it passed the House – testing, testing, testing. Even though our most recent bill passed, we put $25 billion in for testing, but it has not assumed the responsibility to have a strategic plan to get this done, and that's what our bill does. It's a decision.

Because, God willing, we will have a cure, some therapies or we will have a vaccine. But we know – we don't know when that is. But we know right now that we can reduce the spread of this, we can get a handle on the size of it and how it's impacting different communities and we can defeat this virus. And when we get a therapy and a vaccine, that will make it easier, but we cannot wait for that.

Jim Cramer. Yesterday, I spoke to Secretary Mnuchin. And he said, ‘Listen, if the Democrats in Congress are amenable, there could be some flexibility.' There, I was speaking about the possibility – not all the restaurants, the retailers. They're not ready for this new world, not ready for all the different changes they have to make. And they're trying to pay people, but they could go out of business just waiting to be able to fix their places up. He seemed to indicate that if you show flexibility, he'll show flexibility.

Speaker Pelosi. Yeah, well, you know, this is a negotiation. We think this is what is necessary to meet the needs of the American people. State and local, testing, testing, testing, and putting money in the pockets of the American people.

All of these provisions have had a provenance in our former four bills that passed, all in a bipartisan way. All of them are supported by Democrats and Republicans across the country. So, I think that there is an opportunity here for us because this is only centered – only centered on the coronavirus. Although it's a big ticket, it's a big problem.

As you know probably, Chairman Powell said to us, ‘Think big,' because the interest rates are so low. They're so low that they're giving some people confidence that credit will be available, and that is stoking the stock market and so we want to use those low interest rates to stoke the American people, as well.

Jim Cramer. Madam Speaker, one thing really intrigues me here. I've been saying that OSHA has to be tougher. Now, we know in your state, Elon Musk, he's an amazing man who's created so many jobs, he'd like to open a plant. There is a well-meaning county, unelected official who would like to stop that. If we had a strong OSHA, this thing wouldn't be an issue. He'd open his plant, if it wasn't any good, OSHA would say stop, right?

Speaker Pelosi. Yeah, no, that's really the funny part of it because the very people who oppose a strong OSHA standard – and I'm not saying he does, but there are others who oppose it – but, frankly, it is their best protection. It enables them to have people come into a safe workplace, so if something happens to them, the best defense that the employer has is that we obeyed the letter and the spirit of the law of the OSHA.

Jim Cramer. You would be in favor of that plant opening provided that there's oversight?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, we have to – one of the provisions of this bill that we haven't been able to get passed in previous bills – not with strong opposition, it just wasn't a priority for the other side at the time, but we think it's a stronger priority now, we've always been for it – is that we have a strong OSHA regulation, not guidelines, but mandates as to what should happen in the workplace. That's everybody's best protection, the worker and the employer should the worker get sick.

Jim Cramer. Should that plant be open? Should Musk be allowed to open the plant?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, I don't know what the conditions are in his plant, but, again, what we have to be concerned about is the safety of the worker. And if workers aren't safe, they're not even going to go, because, as you know, this is a family matter. The President talks about warriors, we talk about families.

Jim Cramer. Understood.

Speaker Pelosi. This is a family matter. The whole country is a family. But people do not want to go out to bring something home that could be avoided because imagine if your children are – well, I don't even want to go there. It's so sad.

Jim Cramer. We don't even want to think about it. It's so horrible. We don't want to think about it. Thank you so much, Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Speaker of the House. Always welcome on Mad Money. Thank you so much.

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you. Remember, if we don't do it now, it's only going to cost more. And no matter how big the price, the American people are worth it.

Jim Cramer. Total agreement.

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you, Jim.