Sen. Tom Cotton said Wednesday that he agrees with President Donald Trump that it would good to see the United States back up by Easter Sunday, but care must be taken to avoid making the spreading coronavirus pandemic even worse.
"Ultimately, this is going to be a multifaceted response," Cotton said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "It's going to require more testing and more personal protective equipment for our doctors and our nurses, making sure that none of our hospitals, whether it's in rural Arkansas or in New York City, are overwhelmed not just by coronavirus cases but by other cases needing intensive care, and then also taking an assessment of conditions on a regional or even local basis."
Trump said during a Fox News town hall on Tuesday that he does not want to see the nation's economy continue to decline from the pandemic. He also said he is worried that there could be "suicides by the thousands" if the economy does not recover.
Trump, however, did not "shut down the country," said Cotton, as those decisions are made by governors and officials at the state and local level, based on their states' conditions.
The senator also said Tuesday he's "glad" Senate Democrats "took yes for an answer" on the massive $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill, after a deal was reached early Tuesday.
"The bill will be very similar to what we proposed a few days ago, with more money that is regrettably going to be necessary to respond to this crisis and help keep our people safe and ultimately get our economy back on its feet," he said.
Cotton added that COVID-19 is already starting to hit his state hard.
"I've been hearing from business owners while the Senate Democrats dithered with this legislation asking if it was going to pass today because they're going to have to start laying off workers tomorrow," he said. "They literally have no customers coming in the door."
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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