Trump says he, not governors, has power to reopen US economy
Wall Street Journal associate editor John Bussey on who has the power to reopen states after coronavirus lockdown.
Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday he is not running to be "King of America,” a shot at President Trump's comments a day earlier insisting he -- and not governors -- have the power to reopen the U.S. economy amid the coronavirus crisis.
“I am not running for office to be King of America,” Biden tweeted Tuesday. “I respect the Constitution. I’ve read the Constitution. I’ve sworn an oath to it many times. I respect the great job so many of this country’s governors --Democratic and Republican -- are doing under these horrific circumstances.”
Biden’s comments were in response to a tweet posted by CNN about the highly contentious White House coronavirus task force briefing on Monday afternoon and the president’s heated and combative defense of his response to the pandemic.
“Leadership is about never proclaiming power,” Biden added. “It’s about collaboration, it’s about coming together in a crisis and finding common ground. It’s about results.
“That’s who I am and the role I aspire to fulfill in guiding this democratic nation to better times,” Biden said.
Biden’s tweets come amid a back-and-forth between Trump and the nation’s governors, over who has the authority to control when state and local economies can reopen amid the coronavirus crisis.
On Monday, Trump said: “When somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total,” adding that “the governors know that.”
The Constitution, however, states in the 10th Amendment that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
POLL: BIDEN AND TRUMP TIED IN RACE FOR WHITE HOUSE
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo held firm that Trump is incorrect.
“I don’t know what the president is talking about, frankly,” Cuomo said on NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday. “We have a Constitution, the Constitution is based on a balance of powers.”
Cuomo added: “The president doesn't have total authority. The Constitution is there, the 10th Amendment is there, number of cases over the years, it's very clear. States have power by the 10th Amendment, and the president is just wrong on that point.”
Trump has said he will make a decision in conjunction with governors and other officials on reopening the economy and is forming a new coronavirus advisory board focused on that goal.
Meanwhile, Biden, who had enjoyed frontrunner status in the Democratic primary for weeks, is the presumed the Democratic presidential nominee, after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., suspended his campaign last week and offered his endorsement this week.
According to the latest Fox News Poll of registered voters, released last week, Trump and Biden are now tied in the race for the White House with 42 percent support apiece.
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