The Democratic governor of Pennsylvania is striking with an iron fist today, warning counties how disobey his coronavirus orders that he’ll withhold federal funding from them, even the CARES Act funding:
WASHINGTON TIMES – Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf sought Monday to head off a growing revolt against his cautious coronavirus restrictions, threatening to withhold funding from counties and licenses from businesses that seek to reopen ahead of his timetable.
Mr. Wolf, a Democrat who also has feuded with the Republican legislature over the state’s COVID-19 response, warned “cowardly” and “selfish” politicians that the state would withhold discretionary state and federal CARES Act funding to counties that fail to follow his executive orders.
“To those politicians who decide to cave in to this coronavirus, they need to understand the consequences of their cowardly act,” Mr. Wolf said. “The funding we have put aside to help with fighting this crisis will go to the folks who are doing their part, and that includes our CARES Act funding, which will be used to support counties that are following the orders to prevent the spread.”
He added: “However, other discretionary funding won’t go to counties that put us all at risk by operating illegally.”
His stern warning came with a half-dozen Republican-led counties moving to take unilateral action to hasten their reopening, backed by sheriffs and district attorneys who have said that they will refuse to penalize or prosecute local businesses that leapfrog ahead of schedule.
“Enough is enough,” Jeff Haste, chairman of the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners, said Friday in a social media post. “It is time to reopen the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and return our state to the people (as prescribed by our Constitution) and not run it as a dictatorship.”
Trump tweeted about this earlier today, siding with the counties saying “The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now, and they are fully aware of what that entails. The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes. They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them. Don’t play politics. Be safe, move quickly!”
The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now, and they are fully aware of what that entails. The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes. They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them. Don’t play politics. Be safe, move quickly!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020
I’m really glad Trump didn’t side with the governor in this situation. Rather he called them out for moving too slowly, siding with the people instead.