Trump to convene council focused on reopening the country
President Trump on Friday confirmed he plans to convene a new council of business and medical leaders intended to guide his administration toward reopening the U.S. economy. Trump teased the new group at a White House news briefing, saying he would dub it the "Opening Our Country Council." The members would be announced Tuesday, he said.
"We’re also setting up a council of very, very great doctors and business people," he said, saying the group's focus would be "beyond economic."
Trump suggested the group would be bipartisan and be diverse in terms of geography because of the way the coronavirus has impacted certain parts of the country differently. The formation of the group was expected, with reported members including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump's daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump.
The president and his top aides have in recent days been pushing to reopen parts of the economy as early as the start of May as unemployment skyrockets and businesses across the country remain shuttered due to the virus outbreak. "I want to get it open as soon as possible," Trump said Friday. "This country was meant to be open and vibrant and great."
There are more than 486,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. as of mid-day Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, and more than 18,000 people in the U.S. have died of the virus. Medical experts have cautioned that reopening the economy too soon could lead to a spike in infections and subsequently more deaths.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/492247-trump-to-convene-council-focused-on-reopening-the-country
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