During Elizabeth Warren’s now-suspended presidential campaign, she was known for her numerous and detailed policy plans, exemplified by her catchphrase, “I have a plan for that.”

As it turns out, one of the many plans she had posted on her campaign website is very applicable at the moment: “Preventing, containing, and treating infectious disease outbreaks at home and abroad.”

During a satellite appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” from her Cambridge home on Tuesday, the NBC host asked Warren how her plan, released in January, differed from what we’ve seen from the government so far.

“The main thing about the plan is the timing,” Warren said. “Because when you’re talking about a health crisis like this, like an economic crisis, it’s much more important to get in front of it than chasing it from behind.


“If we had put in place an effective plan to deal with the coronavirus back in January, we would have saved lives,” Warren continued. “And we wouldn’t put the stress on our medical system that we’re putting on it right now, and the stress on our economy.”

Meyers also asked Warren if she had considered the possibility of becoming the running mate of either Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, but the senator demurred, saying she was focused on the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have not talked with people about it. Look, I’m focused right now on this crisis,” Warren said. “Last week, we were negotiating a record $2 trillion bill to try to support health-care workers and to try to support our economy, and now I’m trying to push hard for this oversight part of it, sending letters to Secretary Mnuchin. That’s just where my attention is focused right now, and frankly I think it’d be presumptuous for me to be doing anything else.”

Warren also went more in-depth on the coronavirus relief bill, which was signed by President Trump last week. Warren acknowledged that the bill does a lot of good things for Americans, but expressed concern about a $500 billion “slush fund” within the bill that she hoped would not be used to offer no-strings-attached bailouts to corporations.


“I just think it’s bad to not have oversight,” Warren said. “If we’re going to put a half-trillion dollars of taxpayer money out there for use by giant corporations, I think it’s fair for the taxpayers to have some strings on that money.”

Meyers and Warren also discussed her at-home life, including which shows she’s been catching up on during the pandemic — currently the 2012 BBC anti-corruption drama “Line of Duty” — and her dog, Bailey.

“I think Bailey really likes having his peeps around,” Warren said. “He’s like all good dogs — he can actually do the math to get exactly between halfway and Bruce and me. And if it’s in the kitchen it’s wherever you wanted to walk, Bailey is already in that spot, so you’ve got to step over him or trip over him every time.”

“My wife would say I’m the Bailey in our relationship,” Meyers joked.