WA Congressman: More may rebel if Inslee doesn’t release specific plans

Many Washingtonians are looking to Governor Inslee for a plan to get us back to normal as soon as we can, though it’s unlikely we’ll reach “normal” until we get a vaccine. In the meantime, however, finding ways to gradually reopen are being examined, and critics are not happy with Inslee’s approach.

Congressman Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington’s Fourth District, joined the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH to discuss why he believes Inslee’s plans lack any concrete markers of progress and could lead to more protests.

“There was no specifics, no concrete ideas, or benchmarks, or anything that would give us any confidence that the governor has actually put together a plan for us to even begin the process of opening up our economy,” Newhouse said.

“A lot of us are cooped up in our homes. We’re asking people not to socialize, don’t golf, don’t fish, don’t go to work. People are going to need the confidence that there’s actually something specific that they can look forward to and that things will get back to normal at some point.”

As Congressman Newhouse noted, we’re already seeing people in counties across the state begin to rebel against the stay-at-home order, and he worries that a lack of a plan could exacerbate this.

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“You’re already seeing in certain counties and jurisdictions around the state people starting to rebel at the governor’s proclamation, and that’s that’s going to spread if they don’t get some specifics here soon,” he said. “So in the interest of the well-being of the citizens of the state, I think it’s incumbent on the governor to come out with something specific.”

Inconsistencies with what Inslee allows

Furthermore, he finds inconsistencies with Inslee’s stay-at-home order in terms of which industries can or can not get back to work.

“Why is it that public construction projects can move forward but private ones can not? … There’s just a lot of inconsistencies here.”

So what are some of the concrete benchmarks that Newhouse would like to see put in place?

“The governor of Colorado is actually putting in place specific times and dates when certain activities, certain businesses, could begin resuming, assuming that they put into practice all of the social distancing and all of protocols that we’ve come to learn are necessary,” he said.

What is the legality of protests during a coronavirus stay-at-home order?

“I think that’s the kind of thing that we’re looking for from our governor, something that we can set our sights on … some businesses have proven to be able continue to work and be safe, and we should allow others that are similar to do the same, and I think that’s what we need.”

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3 – 6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.

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