Sen. Lindsey Graham said that the federal government is split in attempting to combat the coronavirus while minimizing the damage to the U.S. economy.
The South Carolina Republican appeared on Fox News on Sunday to explain how the United States should proceed against the coronavirus, saying the government is waging a “two-front war.” Resources devoted to the front of combating the virus cannot also help the other front of buttressing the economy, he argued.
“The virus is Germany, and the economy is Japan,” Graham said, referring to the U.S. strategy in World War II to explain how federal resources should be allocated during the pandemic.
In some instances, the steps taken to fight the virus are having a direct, negative impact on workers and businesses. In New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered all nonessential businesses, such as gyms and auditoriums, to close by 8 p.m. on March 22.
“If you act decisively and have aggressive containment policies, we stop the infection from spreading until we can get therapies and vaccines to kill this damn thing,” Graham continued. “So my No. 1 goal is to go all-in on the healthcare front to find therapies and vaccines sooner rather than later to kill the virus and lessen its effect on people, and the economy lockdown is to buy time to accomplish that.”
He also estimated that the steps taken to combat the coronavirus have shut down 70% of the U.S. economy. Many of the most restrictive regulations to combat the virus have been put in place in California and New York, two of the most productive states in the U.S.
