GOPEN UP SESAME — Calls are growing in the GOP to open up the economy and return the country to normal. While some Republicans are still expressing caution and emphasizing that restrictions need to be lifted gradually, others are being more aggressive in calling for an off-ramp. “It should have happened yesterday,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who has pleaded his case in op-eds, letters and numerous texts and phone calls to the White House and GOP leadership. And Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) told a local radio station that policymakers need to put on their “big boy and big girl pants and say it is the lesser of these two evils.”
The growing pressure comes as President Donald Trump has already been itching to restart the economy, which was supposed to be the GOP’s crown jewel heading into the 2020 election. The president assembled a task force to explore ways to get the country moving again and has mused about reopening as soon as May 1. But the push has sparked a backlash among Democrats, who warn there could be another deadly spike in cases if they ignore the advice of health experts.
And there are also constitutional concerns at play. Some Republicans think decisions about commerce are best left up to the states and local governments, despite Trump recently declaring that his authority is “total.” That comment prompted some mild criticism from Republicans: Rep. Liz Cheney tweeted that the “federal government does not have absolute power,” while Sen. Marco Rubio argued “the Constitution & common sense dictates these decisions be made at the state level.” The dispatch from Burgess, your Huddle host and Marianne: https://politi.co/3adSedU.
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Calls are growing in the GOP to open up the economy and return the country to normal https://t.co/HQCff31Hpn
— POLITICO (@politico) April 15, 2020
It's not that Republicans don't believe in science and medical experts (many do, some don't) – it's that they want to reopen the economy against the science and experts solely because they believe it will help their chances in November. https://t.co/eg6C7yb0RP
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) April 15, 2020
Republican Rep. Trey Hollingsworth says letting more Americans die of the coronavirus is lesser of two evils compared to the economy tanking https://t.co/UP3895I9rX pic.twitter.com/9CXQI2Q7Nd
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 14, 2020
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