I’m a Democrat and our governor is a Republican. I disagree with him on many policy issues, but I know we need to face the COVID crisis together. This is not the time for political infighting, grandstanding or power grabs.
Governor Little issued a stark warning on Friday to Republican legislators who are pushing to end his emergency declaration and spreading misinformation. This would threaten our vaccine rollout and also be costly to our communities that stand to lose emergency funds.
This is why I support Governor Little’s emergency declaration. Every other state has an emergency declaration in place because it allows us to do three important things: draw down emergency FEMA dollars to cover important costs such as PPE for first responders, call upon the National Guard to assist with testing and vaccine rollout, and waive regulations that slow our response, such as telehealth restrictions. (The governor’s authority to issue public health orders, such as limits on gatherings, is unrelated to the emergency declaration.
Most Idahoans understand that these tools are critical to our pandemic response. I have received a flood of emails asking for the emergency declaration to stay in place.
Getting our economy back on track and controlling the virus go hand-in-hand. The emergency declaration will allow us to accomplish both goals faster.