The country remains divided over whether or not to reopen businesses, trying to balance the critical public health needs with mounting economic pressures. In this atmosphere, the Washington Examiner interviewed congressman Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio who has strong opinions on the direction the country needs to take during the crisis.
Jordan is the ranking member of the powerful House Judiciary Committee and has represented Ohio’s 4th Congressional District for more than a decade, since 2007. He is a founding member of the conservative Freedom Caucus and a strong supporter of President Trump.
Born and raised in Champaign County, Ohio, Jordan was a two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before coaching wrestling at Ohio State University for eight years. Jordan obtained a master’s degree in education at Ohio State and a law degree from Capital University. He entered local Ohio politics in 1994.
Jordan, 56, still lives in Champaign County with his wife, Polly. He has four children and two grandchildren.
Washington Examiner: What are you using to communicate virtually these days? Are you using Zoom at all, or has that been completely banned for you and your staff?
Jordan: I don’t like Zoom. I think we’ve done once on a briefing for a committee. I just prefer the conference call. So yeah, I don’t typically use Zoom. I mean, we do [Apple’s] FaceTime with our grandkids.
Washington Examiner: What are your thoughts on the American economy opening up, regarding when to do so and what kind of benchmarks you’re looking for?
Jordan: Well, we should get back to work ASAP. I’m for going as fast as possible. Do it in a safe way. But look: I think we were told that we had to go through this in order to make sure our hospitals weren’t overwhelmed. Well, we’ve certainly accomplished that. So let’s get back to work. All kinds of businesses never shut down. They learned to operate in a safe manner. I think the entire economy can do that. So let’s get back to work. You know, [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi is talking about a phase four or phase five plan, whatever phase we’re in. [It] seems to me the best phase four is go[ing] back to work. The best stimulus is to go back to work. So let’s get the economy moving. And the sooner the better.
Washington Examiner: What do you say in response to public health officials and experts, [top government infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci] and others, various infectious disease experts, who say that there will be a massive spike in the virus if we open up and that we don’t have enough testing to be able to feel confident about opening business up again?
Jordan: We can do both. And we know we can do both because there are some businesses that have never shut down a single day. They’ve been operating all the way through, and they’ve certainly adopted certain protocols and processes and safeguards. The entire economy should do that. Americans are smart, commonsensical: They can get things up and running, and they can do it in a safe fashion. So let’s do that.
Washington Examiner: And do you think that demand will be there? Do you think the demand will be there — that customers will actually come out and go to stores and restaurants even if they decide to open up? It seems like consumer confidence is at an all-time low right now because of the health crisis and dangers.
Jordan: People waited an hour and a half to get a haircut in Georgia this past week. Of course there’s going to [be] demand, of course. You get sunny days, and everyone’s going to go to the golf course. I have a friend who said his sister-in-law actually was thinking about organizing vans last weekend to drive from Ohio to Georgia so that people can go to the hair salon, the nail salon, go shopping.
Washington Examiner: And you think it would be safe for them all to be piled into a van and heading off halfway across the country?
Jordan: Yeah — because if they’re family members and they’re going to go travel and go do something, it’s alright.
Washington Examiner: And what are your thoughts on the small-business relief recovering? There have been a bunch of hiccups and issues over the past few weeks in terms of technological administrative issues. What has your experience and understanding of the program been?
Jordan: I think President Trump has done an amazing job. His administration has done an amazing job. When you’re in a crisis and it’s a new situation, there are time constraints. It’s never going to be easy, but I think they’ve done a tremendous job addressing something that, you know, is just a difficult situation.
Washington Examiner: A program can be going well, but also, accountability can be held to make it better. What have you heard from businesses in Ohio regarding how to improve the small-business relief program?
Jordan: The main thing I’ve heard from business owners in the 4th Congressional District of Ohio is: We’ve got to get back to work. They want to go back to work sooner than later. They’re also nervous about the whole unemployment compensation — the fact that unemployment can pay as much as they can or more in some cases. … The two main concerns I’ve heard is they want the economy opened up and the unemployment issue.
Washington Examiner: If the economy is not opened up again, either nationally or in specific parts of the country, are you in support of certain changes to make the small-business relief program more flexible and allow longer periods of time to pay it off and money for things aside from just payroll?
Jordan: Well, the main thing I’m open to is the liability shield. … If there’s going to be some other piece of legislation, I think [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell is right: We want liability protection in there. So I think that makes sense.
Washington Examiner: But restructuring the small-business relief program is not really top priority?
Jordan: Yes, what I’m mostly for is opening the economy. I mean, like I said: The best phase four is going back to work. And the start, we should start with Congress. We can do our work. We can be having hearings. We can be doing the work of the American people. And frankly, I was asked by a reporter a couple weeks ago if I were chairman of the Judiciary Committee, what would I be having hearings on? That’s easy: oversight to be looking at the World Health Organization. How they took our money and then lied to us. And the judiciary committee should be looking at the whole attacks on freedom we’re seeing from some state [and] local governments around the country that I think is very concerning.
Washington Examiner: I was curious about your thoughts on the antitrust subcommittee’s new investigation of Amazon and Jeff Bezos and what made you perhaps a little skeptical about that?
Jordan: If Jeff Bezos comes to the Capitol, I’m sure that Republicans will have questions, but I also am concerned that some of the Democrats just want to hack business — just want to go after successful companies.
Washington Examiner: Why do you think that?
Jordan: I think that is what Elizabeth Warren says and believes. You just hear that. I’m open to seeing what happens here, and I don’t want to prejudge anything, but I’ve got some of those concerns that we just talked about.
