Yahoo Finance Presents: Penny Pritzker

On this episode of Yahoo Finance Presents, Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker spoke with Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer about the economic impacts of COVID-19, the status of the economy going forward, and her endorsement of Joe Biden.

Video Transcript

[THEME MUSIC]

ANDY SERWER: Welcome to "Yahoo Finance Presents." I'm Andy Serwer. And welcome to our guest Penny Pritzker, former Commerce Secretary and founder of PSP Partners. Penny, nice to see you.

PENNY PRITZKER: Andy, good to be with you again.

ANDY SERWER: So I want to ask you about the COVID-19 Illinois Response Fund that your brother Governor Pritzker put you in charge of. Can you talk a little bit about the work you're doing there and what problems you're trying to address?

PENNY PRITZKER: Sure. You know, Andy, this is an all-hands-on-deck moment. And we have millions of people across this nation that are- and certainly people in Illinois-- that are really feeling the significant pain due to this virus. And so JB, my brother, called me in and asked me if I would set up an Illinois COVID Response Fund.

And nothing existed. And so we put a team together. And I'm really thrilled to be able to chair this effort. We've raised over $30 million to help folks from Illinois with their basic needs-- food, shelter, diapers, health care, utilities, rent.

You know, we have so many populations that are feeling pain. You've heard reported we have various populations that are being overly hit by the virus. We have our seniors that are really struggling. I-- you know, it's been extraordinary.

We've dispersed so far about $10 and 1/2 million 48 nonprofit organizations across the state. And when you hear the stories of the ways that we can help, you know, the grandmother who's taking care of the three grandchildren who have been abandoned by their mother. The mother's claiming the federal benefits. And so the grandmother doesn't have enough money coming in to pay rent when she's really helping out her family. It's extraordinary.

Or, you know, the young families that need food because they've been laid off. You know, we have over 700,000 new unemployment claims in Illinois. So our pain in Illinois is like that across the country, very deep. And the ability for us to be able to bring together philanthropic resources to do our part to help has really been a great honor to be able to do it. Tough work, though, because the hole is very deep, and the pain is very harsh.

ANDY SERWER: How much responsibility, Penny, is there that should be picked up by the states and efforts like yours, as opposed to the federal government? What is the right mix here?

PENNY PRITZKER: Well, you know, no state has enough excess budget to be able to solve for this forced shutdown that we have to do in order to protect our population. So the federal government has a massive role to play. And you're seeing that with the acts of Congress and the acts of the Federal Reserve.

But there's another thing that needs to happen at the federal level that's really not happening, which is a coordinated effort around things like testing. You know, it shouldn't be that every state has to be figuring out how to get enough testing capability and equipment in order to make sure that their populations-- not just so that we know how many people are infected, not just so that we can make sure we're providing health care service, but this is going to be an essential element of opening up again.

ANDY SERWER: What is your outlook when it comes to the economy right now, Secretary Pritzker? The jobs picture, I mean, we've been shut down now for over a month. What is your take on that?

PENNY PRITZKER: Well, first of all, we've all seen there's tens of millions of new unemployment claims just over the last five or six weeks. That's devastating because that is, you know, we are a consumer-driven economy. And we're a service economy. By folks not being able to go to work or not being able to work from home, which many people cannot do, that's shutting down massive parts of our economy.

And how we're going to reopen, and how does one-- I think this is going to be a very complex process. And so I think the prospects for the economy are very complicated. And it's hard to see how we're going to come out of this very fast, because we have to basically-- in order to reopen, we've got to be able to test. I've got to know if I'm going to have workers come back to-- into our companies, that they're going to be safe. That's my number one concern as an employer.

Second is I need to be able-- a state is going to have to be able to contact trace. They're going to have to know if someone tests positive, who else have they been around? And they're going to have to be able to inform all those people that they need to quarantine. So then you're going to have to be able to enforce quarantining, or make sure that you're telling people so they can protect and quarantine themselves, so we don't go back up to a situation where our health care systems are overwhelmed.

And then we have to set a whole set of norms, new norms. How many people can be in a place? What businesses should be open? What businesses don't we need open?

How many-- what kind of protections do I need to have? Should I be wearing a mask if I'm just outside? Do I need to wear a mask if I'm at work? What kind of mask?

What are my responsibilities as a citizen in order that I'm being, you know, careful? What are my responsibilities as an employer that I am providing an environment that not only provides employment but that also is safe for my workforce?

ANDY SERWER: How bad is it going to get economically? Are we going to be in a deep recession? And if so, isn't there a concern that we've already sort of used all the resources available to fight that, and we won't have any powder left?

PENNY PRITZKER: Well, look, I applaud the actions of the Fed and of Congress, because they recognized and have learned from history. You need to work fast, and you need to go deep in order to try to smooth the situation for the American people. Now, the question becomes one of, how fast can employers re-employ folks?

And that goes to what I was just talking about. What are the-- we have to put in place a whole system. And we're being told by the president, you have to do it state by state. So what you're seeing is governors recognizing we don't really exist in a world where a state is all by itself. It's going to have to work in concert.

So you see regions where they're going to come up with rules of what can function, what can be open. And-- but the fundamentals that have to be in place, as I said, are really you've got to have testing. And we really need like a Marshall Plan for testing.

Why is it that every governor is trying to figure out how to get swabs, or how to get reagents, or which tests do I use? Why isn't there a national effort that basically is providing a supply chain of whatever you need in order to be able to test? Why isn't there a clear way to provide contact tracing so that governors can adopt programs as opposed to have to invent them? And then how do I connect all of that to make sure that then I'm giving feedback to people, so they understand not just what are the rules, but also if I'm exposed, what do I do?

So, you know, it's-- and then, of course, we need, you know, as we're going through this valley-- and how deep and how long and how wide that valley is is unclear. And uncertainty is a huge issue. We need to make sure that our health care workers are really taken care of.

You know, as I've said to others, you know, this is more than just theoretical for me. I have a daughter-in-law who's a doctor in Boston, you know? And she is on a COVID team. She contracted-- she and my son contracted the virus. Thankfully, they're recovering.

But this is real for families around the country. What do they do when their loved ones who are, you know, on the front lines are being exposed to big danger? So, you know, we need PPE. That should be a federal responsibility as well.

I think from a business standpoint, the thing we need to keep in mind is there's massive uncertainty. What I know how to do as a business leader today is I have to triage, right? I have to figure out, do I have enough liquidity? I have to figure out how I'm going to survive. But it's hard to plan when you don't have any idea how long you're going to be at home, and when can you open your doors, and how can your company provide the services it's set up to do.

ANDY SERWER: Right. Shifting gears a little bit, Secretary Pritzker, I want to ask you about Vice President Biden. You were early on endorsing him. And, in fact, last time we talked, it seemed that you were leaping ahead by backing him.

Now, it looks like it makes a lot of sense. You had faith early on. Where does his campaign stand right now? And how would Vice President Biden be a better choice than President Trump?

PENNY PRITZKER: Well, the campaign stands in a really good place. The vice president continues to make the campaign and his team stronger and stronger. And that is-- that's, you know, the opportunity that exists for him, given that he's just, you know, really become the clear nominee.

Second thing he's done is unifying the party. You see him reaching out to folks, not abandoning what he believes in but really making sure that the tent is open and welcoming to all parts, all comers, anybody who wants to be a supporter of his. I think Vice President Biden has-- is experienced and tested in crisis, and we know this.

He's seen public health crises like the Ebola crisis or the H1N1 crisis. He's lived through those. He's been part of the leadership of-- he was charged by President Obama with seeing us through the economic crisis in 2009 and thereafter.

And so, you know, Vice President Biden also is a man who relies on facts, on data, on truth, on experts, all of which are necessary for us to fight this current situation. And I think he will-- he would be decisive, both in addressing the public health crisis, by giving clear direction, by relying on experts, by having wide availability of free testing, and making sure that everyone knew that they could afford that, and it's-- they shouldn't hold back because fear of being-- not being able to pay. So he would eliminate the cost barriers.

And he'd have full deployment of all the operational resources necessary. He would garner the federal government to do its job. This is why you have a federal government.

He would also be decisive in the economic response. He would be really concerned about workers and making sure that they're receiving the support. He'd make sure there's a social safety net for folks. And he would bring greater certainty to the economy, which then would allow, you know, businesses to do their thing, which is if I understood the rules of the road, if I understood what's going to happen, then I know how to plan. I know how to get back at it, and I know how to start up the economy.

So I think that, you know, and that's without even talking about the global cooperation that I know he would undertake. So I think Vice President Biden is the right man for the time-- this time, and as I told you that early on. And I only feel more convicted.

ANDY SERWER: Are you concerned-- last question. Are you concerned about the election itself, though, Penny, in terms of the coronavirus, and maybe primaries have been delayed, votes being mailed in, DNC pushing their event to mid-August? Does any of this concern you about the integrity of the process?

PENNY PRITZKER: Well, I think we, as a country, and at both at the state level and the federal level, need to assure that every American has the opportunity to vote. And we need to make it a safe process. And there's no reason we can't use all of the capabilities this country has.

We can do online voting. We can do voting by mail. We can do in-person voting with the appropriate social distancing and safety for the polling judges. We just have to get organized, and we have to be committed to it.

And we need to make sure that every American feels that their opportunity to express themselves in this democracy is easy. It's easy for them to do that, that they can-- there are no barriers, and that we're not discouraging them. We're not making it impossible. We're not throwing them off the voting rolls.

And that's something that has got to be a national push to make sure that this election is, as you said, doesn't just happen, but that it is viewed by all as legitimate. That's what this democracy is about. We've been able to do it in other times of crises. There's no reason we can't do it now.

ANDY SERWER: OK, former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, thank you so much for your time.

PENNY PRITZKER: Andy, thanks for having me. And good luck and be safe.

ANDY SERWER: You, too.

PENNY PRITZKER: Thank you.