The House Freedom Caucus sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Friday, urging him to provide a swift and safe reopening of the American economy.
President Trump announced his guidelines for reopening the country on Thursday, which would allow states to open their economies as soon as Friday and allow Americans to return to some form of normalcy during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Freedom Caucus warned that some measures governors and mayors have taken have wreaked havoc on the economy. They wrote:
All levels of government have imposed measures designed to slow the spread of the outbreak. The American people have responded to the guidelines and the effects are apparent. Some governors and mayors have required that businesses close their doors under penalty of criminal or civil sanctions.
Unfortunately, some of the measures enacted to combat the virus have wreaked havoc on the American economy. Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs and many businesses have had to close. The negative impact on the economy will likely persist for quite some time.
“The Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups and Opening Up America Again Congressional Group are both important steps to restoring our economy and the confidence of the American people in our free market economy,” the Freedom Caucus added.
Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Scott Perry (R-PA), Jody Hice (R-GA), Ken Buck (R-CO), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) were some of the members included in the letter to the president.
The Freedom Caucus said that Congress has provided temporary economic relief to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic; however, reopening the economy is the only measure for long-term growth.
“The American people are resilient, but they have suffered tremendously under the weight of this closed economy. Measures enacted by Congress have provided limited relief,” the House conservatives wrote. “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,” the Freedom Caucus concluded in their letter to President Trump.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.