Indiana Rep. Trey Hollingsworth is standing by his position that the government should allow businesses and the economy to reopen sooner rather than later.
Hollingsworth caught some heat this week for making the following statement to 93 WIBC’s Tony Katz:
“But certainly the social scientists are telling us about the economic disaster that is going on. Our GDP is supposed to be down 20-percent alone this quarter. It is policymakers’ decision to put on our big boy and big girl pants and say it is the lesser of these two evils. It is not zero evil, but it is the lesser of these two evils and we intend to move forward that direction. That is our responsibility and to abdicate that is to insult the Americans that voted us into office”
In a follow-up interview with Rob Kendall on WIBC, Hollingsworth said again that no matter what decision lawmakers end up making it’s should not be a decision that leans one way or another in regards to choosing between fully keeping Americans safe from the coronavirus and reopening the economy.
“We owe Americans a better plan on how we move forward and minimize the cost to them of them not being to provide for their families,” he said.
Hollingsworth said there is no “zero solution” to coronavirus.
“What we have to recognize is there are both economic costs to Americans and a biological cost to America,” said Hollingsworth. “We need a plan to move forward with certain parts of the economy, with certain industries, geographies, age groups. Something that science says we can move forward with the economics and minimize the risk of this disease.”
Hollingsworth reiterated that he is a supporter of social distancing efforts, but he added that stay at home orders, such as the one Gov. Eric Holcomb has put in place throughout Indiana, is not a realistic plan going forward.
