Reopen America - April 2020

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As both the federal and states’ governments wrestle with what policies to use in addressing the coronavirus outbreak moving into the summer and beyond, one potential solution that has been touted as a key component of getting life here back to something like normal is “contact tracing.” In particular, governments and tech companies alike have become interested in digital solutions to track the spread of the virus in order to better contain it. However, depending upon how it is done, there are a number of concerns with how contact tracing - whether done in person or digitally - interacts with our basic rights to due process and civil liberties.

House and Senate Democrats are preparing to release another very costly legislative response to COVID-19. No cost estimate is available quite yet, but we know that it’s likely to rival the $2.3 trillion cost of the Phase III bill, the CARES Act, which passed Congress in March. Although all the details of the Democrats’ legislation haven’t been released, it will likely include $1 trillion in funding for state and local governments, bailouts for pension funds and the U.S. Postal Service, expansion of food stamps and the earned income tax credit, universal basic income, and an “essential worker bill of rights.”

Amidst the coronavirus crisis, there are two storylines - aside from the havoc the virus itself has wrought - that seem to stand out. The first is that the social distancing requirements and subsequent economic lockdowns have made it far more difficult for Americans to save their hard-earned money. The second is that Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) has suddenly become America’s sweetheart.

FreedomWorks recently announced the launch of the American Freedom Initiative (AFI), a collaboration headed by former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker. This project aims to help relieve injustices committed against Americans under the criminal justice system and the regulatory state. As part of this project, we will shine a spotlight on some of the individuals the AFI has identified under its National Pardon Project as being particularly hard hit by unjustly harsh criminal sentences for non-violent crimes.

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and senators ask them to cosponsor the American Healthshare Plans Act, H.R. 6712 and S. 3610, introduced in the House by Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) and in the Senate by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). This bill would allow non-employer membership organizations to offer health insurance to individuals, including across state lines, opening up a much-needed alternate path to coverage.