And I want to encourage everyone to keep following our guidelines on social distancing, avoiding large gatherings and hand washing and all of the other things that everybody knows they're supposed to be doing.

Ultimately, the goal is to ease the guidelines and open things up two very large sections of our country as we near the end of our historic battle with the invisible enemy.

We're going for a while, but we win win.

I said earlier today that I hope we can do this by Easter.

I think that would be a great thing for our country, and we're all working very hard to make that a reality will be meeting with a lot of people to see if it can be done.

Easter is a very special day for many reasons.

For me, for a lot of lot of our friends.

That's a very special day, and what a great time line this would be.

Easter is our timeline.

What a great time line that would be.

My first priority is always the health and safety of the American people, everyone, everyone, to understand that we are continuing to evaluate the data.

We're working with the task force and making decisions based on what is best for the interest of our fantastic country.

In order to defeat the virus, we must continue to be very strong.

Your resilience and spirit has been inspiring to everyone.

Right now, this virus is attacking 149 countries.

But everybody looks to us and they're watching us.

And I'm very proud to be a president.

I can tell you that there's tremendous hope as we look forward and we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, stay focused and stay strong, and my administration and myself will deliver for you as we have in the past.

Let me provide you an update on critical preparations and supplies in a war on the virus.

Through FEMA, the federal government is distributing more than eight million in 95 respirators, 14 million surgical masks and many, many millions more under order, and they'll be arriving soon.

2.4 million face shields, 1.9 million surgical gowns, 13.5 million gloves and more than 4000 ventilators to the areas of greatest need have already been sent, and we have 4000 being delivered to New York.

The federal government is using every resource at its disposal to acquire and distribute critical medical supplies.

The core element of this strategy is my executive order authorizing the use of the Defense Production Act, which has, as you know, already been activated, actually, a long time ago, quite a long time ago.

Private companies are heating our call to produce medical equipment and supplies because they know that we will not hesitate to invoke the D.

P.

A in order to get them to do what they have to do.

It's called Leverage.

You don't have to you use it from the standpoint of actually, it's been activated, but you don't have to use it.

But the threat of it being there's great leverage and cos they're doing as we ask, and companies are actually even better than that coming through and they're calling us.

And, uh, it's been really something to see this morning for three M.

General Electric Healthcare.

Uh, you are making tremendous numbers.

They've already started respirators, ventilators and face shields.

They're working together we didn't have to exercise or utilized a d P a in any way.

The fact that we have it helps, but we didn't have to, and for the most part, we won't have to.

We're receiving full cooperation from companies with the understanding that the federal government stands ready to compel cooperation if need be.

We haven't found that to be the case.

That's been really amazing to see these big, strong, powerful in some cases, very small companies.

Family owned companies step up and make a lot of great product for what we're going through and what we will continue to be going through for a while.

The Army Corps of Engineers and the National Guard are building four hospital facilities in New York City at the Javits Center, which will be operational very soon.

They've already started, In addition, that building for separate medical facilities, different parts of the state.

We're dealing with Governor Cuomo on that so you could have four hospitals and four medical facilities at the highest level to really incredible facilities, temporary but incredible.

We're also deploying the U.

S.

Navy hospital ship and that will be arriving in New York Harbor in the not too distant future.

It's finishing its maintenance, doing a vory big maintenance.

And what we did is we condensed it very seriously.

Then, as you know, the other hospital ship and these are incredible ships.

It's already on its way to Los Angeles, so we're in frequent contact with state and local officials and getting a lot of work done well.

Likewise, building hospitals in Los Angeles.

We're working also the state of Washington.

We're working with the governor of the state of New Jersey, building a medical facility of hospital facility and doing a lot of work.

I want to thank the people from FEMA, the great people from FEMA and also the Army Corps of Engineers.

Secretary Mnuchin and the members of my administration continue to work closely with Congress.

I'm pleased to report that we are working to pass the biggest and boldest financial relief package in American history.

Senators will soon hopefully vote on a $2 trillion bill that will deliver direct cash payments to struggling Americans.

No fault of their own.

This came out of nowhere.

Nobody I can imagine this even happened, but it's not their fault.

We wantto protect and we will all of the things that a person needs protected and a family needs protected.

We're working on job retention loans for small businesses and extended unemployment insurance for laid off workers.

The legislation will also include billions of dollars for additional resource is for our is really heroic these air incredible doctors, nurses brave and hospitals, as well as support for hard hit industries such as the airline industry and the cruise ship industry, which employed tremendous amounts of people and obviously savory, important functions beyond that, with very tough protections for the American taxpayer, the loans will be vory secure and they will be very profitable and same time they'll bridge.

They call him bridge loans.

In many cases, they'll be bridging these companies back into very good health.

Some of them are very important companies that four weeks ago didn't have a problem.

I'm also confident that the Democrats will do the right thing.

I feel very confident.

They're working very hard together right now, Republicans and Democrats, and they're getting very close to a very fair deal and a great deal for the people of our country today, as you probably saw, the Dow surged over 2100 points and see all time record history of the exchange.

This is very encouraging and I think part of the reason is they are looking at what is close to being passed and I think a very big part of it is they see that we want to get our country open as soon as possible.

They see we're working very hard on that.

That's a very big factor.

I think today's historic gain the legislation developed in the Senate is the first step to restoring confidence and stability to America's economy.

As we look ahead to the time when we can carefully and responsibly reopen our country for business.

And we hope that's gonna be very soon the one who issue Americans, that we have a team of public health experts, you've gotten to know them as well as I know them.

They're great people, incredible, talented.

They love our country.

Also, economists and other professionals working to develop a sophisticated plan to reopen the economy as soon as the time is right, one based on the best science.

The best modeling and the best medical research there is anywhere on earth are great people have been, especially when it comes to our public health.

Experts and officials have been helping other countries dealing with other countries constant touch with other countries helping them out because many of them have never seen anything like what's happening.

But our decision will be based on hard facts and data.

As to the opening, I'm also hopeful to have Americans working again by that Easter, that beautiful Easter Day.

But rest assured, every decision we make is grounded solely in the health, safety and well being of our citizens.

This is a medical crisis.

This isn't a financial crisis, but it's a, uh, a thing that nobody has seen for many, many decades.

Nothing like this.

Marshaling our economic strength is a key feature of defeating the virus, producing the material supplies and equipment that we need, and they're doing a really fantastic job.

We're helping the governor's where the conference call the other day with the governors and we allowed the press to join us in the call on the spirit between us and the governor's has been really great.

We should never be reliant on a foreign country for the means of our own survival.

I think we've learned a lot.

We've learned a lot.

This crisis is underscored just how critical it is to have strong borders and a robust manufacturing sector.

For three years, we've embarked on a great national project.

You secure immigration system and bring back our manufacturing jobs.

We brought back many jobs, records, numbers of record numbers of jobs.

And this really shows This experience shows how important borders are without borders.

You don't have a nation.

I go for the future.

Must be to have American medicine for American patients, American supplies for American hospitals, in American equipment for our great American heroes.

Now both parties must unite to ensure the United States is truly an independent nation in every sense of the word energy independence.

We've established that and something incredible that we've established.

We're energy, independent manufacturing, independence, economic independence than territorial independence.

Enforced by strong sovereign borders.

America will never be a supplicant nation.

We will be a proud, prosperous, independent and self reliant nation.

We will embrace commerce with all but we will be dependent on none.

Above all, we know that the best thing for our economy and the world right now is a very, very powerful victory over the virus.

Every day the American people are showing the unity and resolve that is always to find the character of our nation.

In New York, citizens air using three D printers to make hundreds of face shields they're making them by the hundreds.

In Texas, businesses and churches are uniting to collect loves and thermometers for hospitals.

In the selfless actions of our amazing citizens, we're seeing enduring strength of our magnificent nation, a spirit that can never be broken and a victorious future that can never be denied.

It never will be denied.

Hi, everyone.

George Stephanopoulos here.

Thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel.

If you'd like to get more video show highlights and watch live event coverage, click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel.

And don't forget to download the ABC News after breaking news alerts.