WEBVTT - Lawmakers Ramp up Attacks on Coronavirus Lockdowns

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<v Speaker 1>It's Tuesday, May twelve. I'm Oscar Emires from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily

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<v Speaker 1>coronavirus update. GOP lawmakers are ramping up their attacks on

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<v Speaker 1>state lockdowns and arguing for a quicker reopening of the country.

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<v Speaker 1>Frustrations are growing with lawmakers who are trying to balance

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<v Speaker 1>public health and letting the economy get worse, but some

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<v Speaker 1>are even joining protests, saying that stay at home orders

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<v Speaker 1>are an overreach. Melanie's Anona congressional reporter at Politico, joins

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<v Speaker 1>us for the fight against lockdowns. Thanks for joining us, Melanie, Hi,

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for having me. Well. The country is on its way.

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<v Speaker 1>We're starting to reopen, but it's kind of a major

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<v Speaker 1>fight all over the place, especially on Capitol Hill. Republicans

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<v Speaker 1>are very angry at the rate that this is happening.

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<v Speaker 1>They want things to open now. Democrats are trying to

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<v Speaker 1>be a little more cautious with it. They want to

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<v Speaker 1>maybe extend some of these stay at home orders. It's

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<v Speaker 1>kind of all over the place. It's very fluid right now,

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<v Speaker 1>but the quarantine fatigue is the real People are over

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<v Speaker 1>People want to start getting out and about, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>all about how to balance the public health with the

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<v Speaker 1>needs of the economy. So Melanie tell us a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit about how this is all playing out well. Frustrations

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<v Speaker 1>are clearly boiling over in the GOP right now. Many

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<v Speaker 1>Republicans on Capitol Hills felt like they were open to

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<v Speaker 1>these restrictions. Initially they felt like they were being patient,

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<v Speaker 1>but now they feel like it's time to start opening

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<v Speaker 1>things up again. They're seeing the impacts of having on

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<v Speaker 1>the economy and local businesses, so they're really starting to

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<v Speaker 1>lash out. We've seen them attend rallies to reopen America.

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<v Speaker 1>We've seen them harp on local officials, harp on Democratic

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<v Speaker 1>leadership for not bringing Congress back into session right away.

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<v Speaker 1>And they're really encouraging these protests that were taking place

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<v Speaker 1>all around the country in an effort to sort of

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<v Speaker 1>build pressure on their state and local government to start

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<v Speaker 1>reopening things. So tell us about some of the GOP

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<v Speaker 1>members that have spoken up about this. You noted a

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<v Speaker 1>few in your article. Representative Andy hair Is, he's a

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<v Speaker 1>Republican from Maryland. He's also a physician. You know, he

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<v Speaker 1>was talking about how early models are saying there's gonna

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<v Speaker 1>be two million people dead at this and we're not

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<v Speaker 1>getting those numbers. So based off of that, it's time

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<v Speaker 1>to start reopening things. It hasn't beared out the way

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<v Speaker 1>of how it was going to happen, so let's start

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<v Speaker 1>opening things up. So what if some of the other

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<v Speaker 1>members said about it. Some of the other conservative members

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<v Speaker 1>have really seized on the idea that they're worried the

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<v Speaker 1>stay at home orders are a violation of constitutional liberties

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<v Speaker 1>and religious radoms. Their point is, right now, you can

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<v Speaker 1>go to a store and get alcohol or a pack

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<v Speaker 1>of cigarettes, or a lottery ticket, but you can't go

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<v Speaker 1>to your place of worship. So they're saying these measures

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<v Speaker 1>are going overboard. They want Attorney General William Barr to

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<v Speaker 1>look into these measures to make sure they're not violating

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<v Speaker 1>constitutional liberties. But then you have other members like Andy Harris,

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<v Speaker 1>who is a doctor, who has been saying that the

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<v Speaker 1>initial productions were a lot higher than what we've seen.

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<v Speaker 1>They're out. But it's important to note that that two

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<v Speaker 1>million figure he was citing was in reference to if

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<v Speaker 1>we had no social distance being in place. But he

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<v Speaker 1>has really been aggressive and calling for these lockdowns to end.

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<v Speaker 1>He has also argued that there's also health risks if

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<v Speaker 1>we stay at home because there's been an increase in

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<v Speaker 1>suicide rates and mental health issues and routine health exams

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<v Speaker 1>or for example, getting pushed to the back burner. But yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you're hearing all sorts of different arguments coming from Capital

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<v Speaker 1>Hope Republicans about why these measures should be lifted. And

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<v Speaker 1>one of the interesting things that we're seeing is, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you mentioned the protests and how some of these members

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<v Speaker 1>have even participated in some of the protests. Some are

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<v Speaker 1>even saying, who knows if this will turn into some

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<v Speaker 1>type of political movement. Part of this overreach of government again,

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<v Speaker 1>and as I said, you know, it's a balance of

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<v Speaker 1>public health and all, but people do feel like their

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<v Speaker 1>rights are being infringed upon. On this. It's drawing a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of comparisons to the Tea Party movement that we

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<v Speaker 1>saw a decade ago. There's a lot of frustration, especially

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<v Speaker 1>among conservatives and on the right, what they see is

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<v Speaker 1>government overreach. There's a lot of concern about whether the

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<v Speaker 1>government is going too far. And you know, back then,

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<v Speaker 1>the Tea Party movement is about big government spending, so

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<v Speaker 1>in this case it's obviously a little different. But you're

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<v Speaker 1>seeing a lot of conservative activists really trying to seize

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<v Speaker 1>on this grassroots energy in this momentum, and they're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to mobilize the base ahead of the November election. But

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<v Speaker 1>polls still show that most Americans aren't really comfortable with

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<v Speaker 1>reopening the states that much yet, at least with Salon's,

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<v Speaker 1>Jim's movie theaters, things like that. They're still saying, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we could either take some time or just not yet.

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<v Speaker 1>The polling that we've seen recently is that most of

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<v Speaker 1>the public right now is still skeptical about reopening. So

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<v Speaker 1>the Republicans pushing for these lockeddowns to end are in

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<v Speaker 1>the minority. And that's why you have seen some Republicans,

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<v Speaker 1>especially those who might be up for re election in

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<v Speaker 1>the fall, take a more nuanced approach this debate. They're saying,

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<v Speaker 1>we need to open up, but it needs to be

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<v Speaker 1>done slowly and safely, and they're being much more careful

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<v Speaker 1>about how they approach this issue. But certainly, I would

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<v Speaker 1>say the majority of the GOP is arguing that it's time.

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<v Speaker 1>The Attorney General, William Barr, has also said that the

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<v Speaker 1>Justice Department is honoring the stay at home orders to

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<v Speaker 1>ensure they don't violate any civil liberties just kind of

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<v Speaker 1>my understanding. A lot of them are, you know, stay

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<v Speaker 1>at home obviously, but most states are still allowing their

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<v Speaker 1>citizens to go out and take walks and things like that.

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<v Speaker 1>So what would they be looking for to see of

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<v Speaker 1>any civil liberties being violated? What would the justice part

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<v Speaker 1>to be looking at. Some of the issues that I

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<v Speaker 1>have been raised by conservative is whether restrictions on allowing

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<v Speaker 1>them to worship, for example, is a violation of their

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<v Speaker 1>religious freedoms. Something else they've talked about is whether the

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<v Speaker 1>law enforcement and police officers should be aggressively going after

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<v Speaker 1>people and jailing them for violating some of these orders.

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<v Speaker 1>We've seen numerous reports of local law enforcement going after

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<v Speaker 1>businesses and people who are violating their rules. So we

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<v Speaker 1>probably just want to make sure that everything is in

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<v Speaker 1>line with the constitution, and they're asking William Barr to

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<v Speaker 1>make sure that that isn't happening. You did mention that

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<v Speaker 1>the Senate had come back in the session and the

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<v Speaker 1>House was delaying some of that. Do we know when

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<v Speaker 1>they're going to come back. The House isn't back yet.

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<v Speaker 1>They are waiting to finish their next relief package, so

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<v Speaker 1>they want something to vote on before they haul all

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<v Speaker 1>these lawmakers back. We're hearing it could be happening on

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<v Speaker 1>Friday at the earliest. It could slipped next week. But again,

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<v Speaker 1>Republicans are some of them are calling to return no

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<v Speaker 1>matter what. They want to come back into session because

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<v Speaker 1>the Senate already is back, you're working, and they said

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<v Speaker 1>they don't want to be seen as sitting on the sideline.

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<v Speaker 1>But Democrats argue that if they're going to bring people back,

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<v Speaker 1>they want to do it safely, and they want to

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<v Speaker 1>make sure there's a reason that they're calling people back

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<v Speaker 1>and not just doing it for the sake of doing it.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's why they're waiting until their next relief package

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<v Speaker 1>is done be written. Melanie's Anona congressional reporter at Politico.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you very much for joining us. Thanks so much

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<v Speaker 1>for having me. I'm aspar Romeiras and this has been

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<v Speaker 1>your daily coronavirus event. Don't forget that. For today's big

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<v Speaker 1>news stories. You can check me out on the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. To follow us and

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<v Speaker 1>I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast