Eleven members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are calling for President Donald Trump to swiftly reopen the country over concerns the stay-at-home orders could be catastrophic for small businesses, reports The Hill.
"The American people are resilient, but they have suffered tremendously under the weight of this closed economy," they wrote.
"Measures enacted by Congress have provided limited relief. More government is not the answer to these economic woes — reopening the economy is the answer. We are a free people with a free and fair market. The sooner we return to it, the sooner our economy will again thrive."
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., spearheaded the effort.
"What you did is, you basically took a sledgehammer to the whole economy," Biggs told the Hill. "And we now have a huge structural deficit, we've really exacerbated our national debt issue and we've put 22 million-plus people out of work. I mean, come on, it's time to open this thing up and trust the American people."
The coronavirus death toll in the U.S. topped 40,000 Sunday as researchers called for more testing before reopening.
More than 740,000 people have been infected with the virus in America.
A contingent of powerful GOP allies are also pushing for Trump to reopen the economy, including the Heritage Foundation, Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore and other House Republicans.
"We all want to take care of those who are vulnerable, and we want to protect them but we also want to be able to live our lives," Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., told the Hill. "I think everybody's important. The people that are huddled up there, they're not being treated as if they have rights, so not being treated as if they're important."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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