Pennsylvania governor in battle with counties pushing to reopen
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf threatens to withhold federal aid to counties that open prematurely; Republican State Sen. Scott Martin reacts.
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Pennsylvania State Sen. Scott Martin on Wednesday pushed back on Gov. Tom Wolf's threat that he would withhold coronavirus aid to counties in the Keystone State that are defying his shutdown order and moving ahead with reopening businesses.
“The threatening and the name-calling after the counties started to push back a little was really uncalled for,” Martin said on “Fox & Friends.”
Martin, R-Lancaster, went on to point out that only seven counties in Pennsylvania received coronavirus aid.
“The way the federal CARES Act was established, counties with over half a million people got a direct allocation from the federal government, so Lancaster County, where I'm from, they got theirs,” he said.
Martin added that “there are 60 other counties in Pennsylvania that I'm sure are going to be relying on these funds in response to COVID-19 that the federal government sent.”
“So it would be historic for a governor to put things into a federal-related program. I question whether he has the ability to do that,” he continued. “So does he mean he’s going to cut funding for other vital programs that the state provides for? Human services, abused kids, kids with developmental disabilities.”
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Breaking from his normal, mild-mannered tone, the Democratic governor expressed his anger on Monday with a number of local elected officials who have said they will buck his staggered reopening plan. Wolf said the defiant county officials were “operating illegally” and “jeopardizing the lives of citizens of those counties.”
There has been a growing discontent from a number of county commissioners in the more rural parts of Pennsylvania to Wolf’s phased reopening, who argue that they have not been as hard hit as other areas and should be allowed to lift restrictions.
At least 10 counties in the state’s Susquehanna Valley have either announced a date to reopen or demanded Wolf lift the orders.
A group of state lawmakers in Pennsylvania’s Franklin County sent Wolf a letter over the weekend informing him of their plans to go against his shutdown orders. Officials in Lancaster County also penned a letter to Wolf, saying he was inconsistent in what was permitted to reopen and questioning his “methods.”
Martin noted on Wednesday that “all along we’ve had one of the most draconian lockdowns of all the states.”
“As a matter of fact, we had the only state that didn't allow real estate to occur,” Martin said on Wednesday. “We were shutting down mom and pop businesses.”
“Plus, he created an arbitrary waiver process where he gave about 6,100 of hand-chosen businesses across many industries the ability to continue to operate while shutting down the vast majority of our economy,” he continued.
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This week, most of western and northern Pennsylvania will emerge from the restrictive orders implemented by Gov. Wolf that limit movement and businesses. But stay-at-home orders have been extended until June 4 for Philadelphia – the state’s largest city – and the surrounding suburbs.
Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.
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