WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The president has assembled a group of lawmakers to help reopen the country and bring the economy back to where it was before.
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey says President Donald Trump’s organization of a new task force dedicated to finding ways to reopen the country is the right step.
“It’s time to begin this process,” Toomey said.
Toomey says serious social distancing did its job but isn’t a long-term solution.
“The whole reason that we shut down our economy and made it illegal for people to go to work was to prevent our hospitals from becoming overrun,” Toomey said.
West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito says increased testing capabilities will make a big difference.
“Well what’s really going to be, I think, useful to businesses and states and governors is going to be the antibody test which accounts whether you’ve developed an immunity,” Captio said.
Both Toomey and Capito believe if the U.S. doesn’t act now, it will take years to recover from the outbreak.
The president is recommending states follow a three-stage plan to reopen the country but Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey doesn’t want the president to rush back into normalcy.
“That contentment that I think some people believe will happen once things are open will be wiped out in a matter of days if we don’t do it the right way,” Casey said.
And Casey has a warning for the president.
“Every word you say about this pandemic has to be truthful, has to be accurate and has to be consistent and if a politician can’t do that, they should just shut up,” he said.
Casey hopes the members of the new task force find a balance between prioritizing health and the economy.
