GOP's growing open it up caucus urges fewer virus restrictions amid warnings from fellow Republicans
The Washington Post logoGOP’s growing ‘open it up’ caucus urges fewer virus restrictions amid warnings from fellow Republicans
A growing number of Republican lawmakers across the country are pushing for a more rapid reboot of the American economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that the risk of spreading more sickness — and even death — is outweighed by the broader economic damage that widespread stay-at-home orders have wrought.
They are taking cues from and breathing energy into a grass-roots conservative movement of resistance against government-ordered quarantine measures — one that President Trump appeared to back in several tweets Friday — but are facing defiance within their own party from Republican congressional leaders, governors and fellow lawmakers who warn that a rash reopening could reinvigorate the virus’s spread.
The emerging “open it up” caucus has spoken out on key conservative media platforms, including some of Trump’s favorite programs. In a prime-time Fox News Channel appearance Wednesday, for instance, Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) said that balancing the health of Americans with a functioning economy amid the pandemic was “like choosing between cancer and a heart attack.”
“We’ve got to open this economy. If we don’t, it’s going to collapse,” he told host Tucker Carlson. “If the U.S. economy collapses, the world economy collapses. And trying to burn down the village to save it is foolish. That’s a cold, hard truth.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gops-growing-open-it-up-caucus-urges-fewer-virus-restrictions-amid-warnings-from-fellow-republicans/ar-BB12NSwG?li=BBnb7Kz
Louisiana has the third highest per capita rate for COVID-19 Senator Kennedy.
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