Sen. John Kennedy says it's up to the American public to help restart the economy
We've spent $3 trillion but we can't buy the U.S. economy, says Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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Senate Judiciary Committee member John Kennedy, R-La., told "The Story" Monday that the issue of when states should roll back coronavirus-induced restrictions is no longer a question of, as he put it, "safe or soon."
"That is no longer the issue," Kennedy told host Martha MacCallum. "The issue is safe and soon."
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MacCallum had asked Kennedy to respond to criticism by President Trump of governors who have been slow to ease the restrictions and suggested that Trump may believe a slow-recovering economy may affect his chances of reelection.
"I don't know. I can't see into my colleagues' hearts or read their minds," Kennedy responded. "I just do know that we are no longer debating it [as] safe or soon."
Kennedy added that governments around the country should do what they can to restart their economies and stated that the American worker understands that they can protect themselves from the virus while providing for their families.
The senator spoke as a growing number of states have set dates to reopen some industries and loosen restrictions on others.
Kennedy also cast doubt on whether a proposal by Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., to provide $2,000 per month to every American would pass the legislature.
"I don't think it will pass," he said. "I think the only way to get us out of this is to get ourselves -- we have got to get ourselves out of it.
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"Government shut down the economy, but it's up to the American people, all of us, to get it back going."
Kennedy remarked that a former private-sector colleague of his once said that a person "without a job is not healthy -- he's not happy -- and he's not free."
"That's true," the lawmaker remarked.
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