Democrats roll out national plan to reopen America

House Democrats on Friday called for the federal government to take a more aggressive role in determining how to reopen American society, schools and businesses, the same day Georgia pressed ahead with plans to reopen some non-essential businesses.

The Democrats warned that an individual state rushing to reopen before it has met key public-health benchmarks could result in more outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus in neighboring states.

“If one state reopened too soon, there is no way to stop the state next to it from getting an increase in infection,” Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.), a former Health and Human Services secretary during the Clinton administration, said on a conference call Friday. “And that's why we need a national strategy with real scientific, health-care, public-health standards because unless we're going to build walls between the states, this disease is simply going to go across borders.

The Reopen America Act would create a federal coronavirus reopening panel that would work with states on their reopening strategy. But the legislation encourages neighboring states — like South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, or New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — to work together on a regional reopening plan.

Once reopening plans by states or regions are approved by the federal panel, states would receive billions of dollars in funding to implement those strategies, though the bill doesn't yet have a price tag.

The bill also calls for a separate federal health-focused panel that would coordinate and standardize coronavirus testing, protective medical equipment and ventilators for states.

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