Sen. Braun: Restarting Economy Likely ‘County By County’
April 29, 2020 at 11:17 p.m.
Sen. Braun: Restarting Economy Likely ‘County By County’
By David [email protected]
“Up to this point, I think we’ve done things well here in Indiana. You have to rely on healthcare experts in terms of how this disease works. We know it’s got peculiarities and that so many are asymptomatic. Most everyone is mildly impacted disproportionately and (it) horrifically impacts people ... that have a certain kind of disposition to it. And I really hope we do better in protecting the most vulnerable and then take an approach that is a little more ... entrepreneurial in terms of how we open up the economy,” he said via teleconference during Wednesday’s weekly coronavirus press conference at Warsaw City Hall.
Braun said his background is in economics and running a business, but majored in biology when he was at Wabash College.
“But you still need to listen to the experts there in Indiana and not backslide in anything we do,” he said. “But the more difficult part of the equation is going to be what we do from here forward.”
He said steps need to be taken carefully and deliberately, “or else we’re not only going to have all the tragedy that’s occurred from the disease itself, we’re going to have an economic patient that’s going to be as sick, relatively speaking. I really think we can do both: not giving anything back to the disease, pay attention to what the healthcare experts told us and on a rolling basis, county by county, state by state in this country, do what we’ve always done well – work hard, have ingenuity and be optimistic in the process of doing it. That’s going to be my approach.”
The federal government enacted three rounds of economic relief in response to the coronavirus pandemic and many businesses being shut down in an attempt to keep the virus from spreading.
“When we first started, there was no idea how this thing was going to unfold over time,” Braun said, noting the worst-case scenario occurred in New Jersey and New York with 40% of the cases. “Those two states, and a cluster of about three more states, and it’s over 50%.”
He said the federal government had to step in. Being one of the more fiscally conservative senators, and there aren’t a lot of them out there in federal government, Braun said, “And you’ve got to remember, we run trillion dollar deficits annually and seem to shrug them off. We’ve added $3 trillion to government spending, and as we were doing it, we wondered if it was necessary. We basically shut the economy down due to the uncertainty of the disease, and that’s why I’m so anxious to see what we’re doing currently, and that’s a smart restart.”
He said one can see how deep and broad the issue is “when you go through $350 million for loans for small businesses.” He added that the “smallest of the small” businesses didn’t even get helped out in the first round of small business loans.
“I think beyond what we did, it’s going to be difficult for us to replace the real economy,” Braun said. “You’ve heard discussions of certain state governments really asking the feds to come in to help. That’s difficult because most of the governments do not run balanced budgets that are asking, do not have rainy day funds and have a really high-cost state government and pensions that are in difficulties. So that’s going to be a difficult thing to navigate through.”
He said conservatives and places across the country also are worried about frivolous lawsuits that might arise as people are given the OK to go back to work.
Asked by Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer if the federal spending to address the testing issue is critical and must go on until there’s a vaccine, Braun said, “That was $25 billion, along with an additional $75 billion for the healthcare system in general, and was part of $3.5 (trillion) when this occurred. Testing is essential. Sadly though, I don’t know that we’ll be able to pass quickly enough to get a way that you can, with full confidence, reopen the economy. And that’s going to be a little tricky, but your point is correct. I think there will be enough tests to make sure we have them in the places that have a high incidence rate.”
He said businesses – like the ones in Logansport where confirmed cases of COVID-19 have spiked recently – really have to be careful because they will have employees who won’t feel safe in returning to work.
Braun said he spoke to the CEO of Roche Laboratories, headquartered in Indianapolis, who indicated that 40 pharmaceutical companies have been working “at a neckbreak pace” to get tests done across the country.
“That has been politicized in a way because everybody agrees with the idea of having tests available for people that want it, and businesses are going to need it to feel confident, but he indicated that we’ve only had the genome for three months and that there has not been any stone unturned in pursuit of testing, and he would be one of 40 companies that” have been working on it, Braun said.
Kosciusko County is one of many agricultural counties in the state. The demand for meat has increased significantly, especially with many Americans staying home during the pandemic. However, some of the country’s meat-processing plants have been forced to cease operations, at least temporarily, after thousands of employees in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19. President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order under the Defense Production Act to compel meat processing plants to remain open amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Braun said, “My experience has been not only with starting a distribution and transportation company, but been heavily involved in agriculture and had a turkey operation for 32 years. Coronavirus is a big deal in livestock and poultry because it was one that was so contagious even there, that in many cases you had to shut down your operation for six months, sterilize it and get rid of it.
“In this case, we don’t know how that’s going to work because poultry and meat-packing are closer to elbow-to-elbow than they are probably 6-foot spacing, so that’s where that ingenuity and improvising and figuring out how to do it is so important.”
He said Trump, through the DPA, declared meat-packing and poultry processing critical industries that need to stay open.
“That’s going to be up to the ingenuity and agility of folks that run these companies and people that work there and how that’s going to work,” Braun said.
Agriculture is probably the second-biggest industry sector in Indiana, next to manufacturing, he said.
“It kind of brings up the big issue that I was concerned with – I did a couple of (Senate) floor speeches – is because of the uncertainty of all of this and how long do you wait to try and do a smart restart?” he said, adding that hopefully the government will be able to speak on that over the next couple of days.
“In my opinion, it’s county by county, within any state, and it’s state by state across the country,” Braun said. “And I feel real good about the fact that that is going to be how we address the economic component and the trick’s going to be not to give an inch back to the disease for the investment we’ve made in shutting down the economy at this point.”
He said meat-packing and poultry processing will be two of the trickier places to get it done right.
“Up to this point, I think we’ve done things well here in Indiana. You have to rely on healthcare experts in terms of how this disease works. We know it’s got peculiarities and that so many are asymptomatic. Most everyone is mildly impacted disproportionately and (it) horrifically impacts people ... that have a certain kind of disposition to it. And I really hope we do better in protecting the most vulnerable and then take an approach that is a little more ... entrepreneurial in terms of how we open up the economy,” he said via teleconference during Wednesday’s weekly coronavirus press conference at Warsaw City Hall.
Braun said his background is in economics and running a business, but majored in biology when he was at Wabash College.
“But you still need to listen to the experts there in Indiana and not backslide in anything we do,” he said. “But the more difficult part of the equation is going to be what we do from here forward.”
He said steps need to be taken carefully and deliberately, “or else we’re not only going to have all the tragedy that’s occurred from the disease itself, we’re going to have an economic patient that’s going to be as sick, relatively speaking. I really think we can do both: not giving anything back to the disease, pay attention to what the healthcare experts told us and on a rolling basis, county by county, state by state in this country, do what we’ve always done well – work hard, have ingenuity and be optimistic in the process of doing it. That’s going to be my approach.”
The federal government enacted three rounds of economic relief in response to the coronavirus pandemic and many businesses being shut down in an attempt to keep the virus from spreading.
“When we first started, there was no idea how this thing was going to unfold over time,” Braun said, noting the worst-case scenario occurred in New Jersey and New York with 40% of the cases. “Those two states, and a cluster of about three more states, and it’s over 50%.”
He said the federal government had to step in. Being one of the more fiscally conservative senators, and there aren’t a lot of them out there in federal government, Braun said, “And you’ve got to remember, we run trillion dollar deficits annually and seem to shrug them off. We’ve added $3 trillion to government spending, and as we were doing it, we wondered if it was necessary. We basically shut the economy down due to the uncertainty of the disease, and that’s why I’m so anxious to see what we’re doing currently, and that’s a smart restart.”
He said one can see how deep and broad the issue is “when you go through $350 million for loans for small businesses.” He added that the “smallest of the small” businesses didn’t even get helped out in the first round of small business loans.
“I think beyond what we did, it’s going to be difficult for us to replace the real economy,” Braun said. “You’ve heard discussions of certain state governments really asking the feds to come in to help. That’s difficult because most of the governments do not run balanced budgets that are asking, do not have rainy day funds and have a really high-cost state government and pensions that are in difficulties. So that’s going to be a difficult thing to navigate through.”
He said conservatives and places across the country also are worried about frivolous lawsuits that might arise as people are given the OK to go back to work.
Asked by Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer if the federal spending to address the testing issue is critical and must go on until there’s a vaccine, Braun said, “That was $25 billion, along with an additional $75 billion for the healthcare system in general, and was part of $3.5 (trillion) when this occurred. Testing is essential. Sadly though, I don’t know that we’ll be able to pass quickly enough to get a way that you can, with full confidence, reopen the economy. And that’s going to be a little tricky, but your point is correct. I think there will be enough tests to make sure we have them in the places that have a high incidence rate.”
He said businesses – like the ones in Logansport where confirmed cases of COVID-19 have spiked recently – really have to be careful because they will have employees who won’t feel safe in returning to work.
Braun said he spoke to the CEO of Roche Laboratories, headquartered in Indianapolis, who indicated that 40 pharmaceutical companies have been working “at a neckbreak pace” to get tests done across the country.
“That has been politicized in a way because everybody agrees with the idea of having tests available for people that want it, and businesses are going to need it to feel confident, but he indicated that we’ve only had the genome for three months and that there has not been any stone unturned in pursuit of testing, and he would be one of 40 companies that” have been working on it, Braun said.
Kosciusko County is one of many agricultural counties in the state. The demand for meat has increased significantly, especially with many Americans staying home during the pandemic. However, some of the country’s meat-processing plants have been forced to cease operations, at least temporarily, after thousands of employees in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19. President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order under the Defense Production Act to compel meat processing plants to remain open amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Braun said, “My experience has been not only with starting a distribution and transportation company, but been heavily involved in agriculture and had a turkey operation for 32 years. Coronavirus is a big deal in livestock and poultry because it was one that was so contagious even there, that in many cases you had to shut down your operation for six months, sterilize it and get rid of it.
“In this case, we don’t know how that’s going to work because poultry and meat-packing are closer to elbow-to-elbow than they are probably 6-foot spacing, so that’s where that ingenuity and improvising and figuring out how to do it is so important.”
He said Trump, through the DPA, declared meat-packing and poultry processing critical industries that need to stay open.
“That’s going to be up to the ingenuity and agility of folks that run these companies and people that work there and how that’s going to work,” Braun said.
Agriculture is probably the second-biggest industry sector in Indiana, next to manufacturing, he said.
“It kind of brings up the big issue that I was concerned with – I did a couple of (Senate) floor speeches – is because of the uncertainty of all of this and how long do you wait to try and do a smart restart?” he said, adding that hopefully the government will be able to speak on that over the next couple of days.
“In my opinion, it’s county by county, within any state, and it’s state by state across the country,” Braun said. “And I feel real good about the fact that that is going to be how we address the economic component and the trick’s going to be not to give an inch back to the disease for the investment we’ve made in shutting down the economy at this point.”
He said meat-packing and poultry processing will be two of the trickier places to get it done right.
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