Swing-state Democratic governors under duress over stay-at-home orders – POLITICO

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A group of Minnesota House Republicans, meanwhile, proposed halting Walz’s emergency powers. But the measure was blocked this week by majority Democrats joined by several Republicans.

Minnesota House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, a Republican, stressed to POLITICO that he doesn’t want to be critical of Walz, but he’s strongly encouraging the governor to safely open businesses as soon as he can. Daudt said models indicate the state has ample medical capacity to handle coronavirus patients while relaxing its stay-at-home order, as long as social distancing measures are maintained.

“If the actual numbers don’t match the high numbers in our model and if people feel the governor took too many precautions there could be some backlash,” he said.

“They want to give the governor the benefit,” he said of Minnesotans. “But we also see a growing concern that this is going to have long-lasting impacts on the state’s economy and to minimize that we need to get back to business open as normal. We need to figure out how we can open businesses.”

The largest conflict so far has taken place in Pennsylvania, with images of lawmakers wearing masks as they voted ricocheting across the web. Republicans passed their measure to allow more businesses to reopen even after the state’s Secretary of Health, Rachel Levine, wrote that it would lead to more people getting Covid-19 and undermine the “integrity and effectiveness” of the state’s response.

Republican Rep. Bryan Cutler, the House majority leader, said the bill attempts to help small businesses and correct an exemption process in which some companies have been allowed to operate while their competitors were ordered to remain closed.

“For me it’s really simple,” Cutler said. “It’s about getting people who want to safely go back to work.

Nationally, more than 661,000 Americans have tested positive for Covid-19 and at least 33,049 have died. Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home order lasts through the end of April.

“The governor did the only thing he could do,” Krueger, the Democratic state representative, said of Wolf’s veto announcement. “It is just too soon.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/17/democratic-governors-stay-at-home-orders-193081

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