Rep. Liz Cheney is pushing back against President Donald Trump's contention that it is his decision to reopen states for business after their measures to stem the spread of COVID-19, insisting that the federal government does not have absolute power over the nation's states.
"The federal government does not have absolute power," the Wyoming Republican posted on Twitter shortly after Trump's often-contentious press briefing Monday evening. She then quoted the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, which states that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Earlier on Monday, Trump had tweeted that "it is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons" to lift state-ordered mandates concerning public gatherings and business closures. He had added that a "decision by me" will be made shortly, but that he and his administration are working with the nation's governors.
During his press briefing Monday, Trump doubled down, commenting that "when somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total."
Cheney has split often with Trump on the matter of reopening businesses, reports The Casper (Wyoming) Star Tribune, including in March, when she said there would be "no economy left" if hospitals were overrun with COVID-19 patients.
Wyoming remains one of just a handful of states that do not have a stay-at-home order, but state legislators are pushing Republican Gov. Mark Gordon to start lifting restrictions on larger public gatherings, the newspaper reported.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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