US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed the “total” authority to decide how and when to reopen the economy after weeks of tough social distancing guidelines aimed at fighting COVID-19, but governors from both parties were quick to push back, saying they have primary responsibility for ensuring public safety in their states and would decide when it is safe to begin a return to normal operations.
Trump would not offer specifics about the source of his asserted power, which he said, despite constitutional limitations, was absolute.
“When somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total,” Trump said at the White House. “The governors know that.”
Photo: AFP
The comments came not long after Democratic leaders in the Northeast and along the West Coast announced separate state compacts to coordinate their efforts to scale back stay-at-home orders or reopen businesses on their own timetables.
Anxious to put the crisis behind him, Trump has been discussing with senior aides how to roll back federal social distancing recommendations that expire at the end of the month.
While Trump has issued national recommendations advising people stay home, it has been governors and local leaders who have instituted mandatory restrictions, including shuttering schools and closing non-essential businesses. Some of those orders carry fines or other penalties, and in some jurisdictions extend into the early summer.
Governors made it clear that they would not tolerate pressure to act before they deem it safe.
“All of these executive orders are state executive orders and so therefore it would be up to the state and the governor to undo a lot of that,” New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, said on CNN.
“The government doesn’t get opened up via Twitter. It gets opened up at the state level,” said Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
Meanwhile, governors were banding together, with Connecticut, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island agreeing to coordinate their actions. The governors of California, Oregon and Washington announced a similar pact.
While each state is building its own plan, the three West Coast states have agreed to a framework saying they would work together, put their residents’ health first and let science guide their decisions.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, stressed the efforts would take time.
“The house is still on fire,” Murphy said on a conference call with reporters. “We still have to put the fire out, but we do have to begin putting in the pieces of the puzzle that we know we’re going to need ... to make sure this doesn’t reignite.”
Trump, however, insisted it was his decision to make.
“The president of the United States calls the shots,” he said, promising to release a paper outlining his legal argument.
Trump can use his bully pulpit to pressure states to act or threaten them with consequences, but the US constitution gives public health and safety responsibilities primarily to state and local officials.
Although Trump abandoned his goal of beginning to roll back social distancing guidelines by Easter, he has been itching to reboot an economy that has dramatically contracted as businesses have shuttered, leaving millions of people out of work and struggling to obtain basic commodities.
The closure has also undermined Trump’s re-election message, which hinged on a booming economy.
Trump’s claim that he could force governors to reopen their states also represents a dramatic shift in tone.
For weeks he has said that states, not the federal government, should lead the response to the crisis.
He has also refused to publicly pressure states to enact stay-at-home restrictions, citing his belief in local control of government.
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