Let the Citizens of Cumberland County get Back to Work
COVID-19 has turned our nation upside down and many citizens and small businesses in Cumberland County are now in dire financial distress. Governor Wolf needs to stop his partisan antics, reach across the aisle to Republican lawmakers, and immediately open businesses that can operate while practicing necessary preventative measures to maintain a safe workplace. These businesses will follow federal CDC guidelines that many states currently follow.  We demand that the Governor open Cumberland County for business NOW.
Governor Wolf’s policies have placed 1.5 million Pennsylvanians – nearly 30% of our workforce – out of work. This is unacceptable. Pennsylvania has more unemployment claims than California and New York, the country’s two most populous states. We cannot wait another three weeks for Governor Wolf to issue another edict that may or may not allow all businesses and employees to go back to work.
​Our Republican elected officials in Cumberland County led the way in appropriating funding for our health systems, sponsoring legislation to support our first responders, and passing Senate Bill 613 which would have allowed our economy to reopen. The bill simply requested that the Commonwealth follow federal standards to allow businesses to reopen. Unfortunately, Governor Wolf senselessly vetoed this legislation, thus holding Cumberland County’s citizens hostage and infringing upon their freedom to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The Wolf Administration’s decision-making was arbitrary and unilaterally implemented by unelected bureaucrats, with no legislative input from our elected officials.  We request that Governor Wolf work with Republican lawmakers to act on the following issues:
- Reopen the Pennsylvania economy safely: Â Federal guidelines for business reopening are in place from the CDC. Governor Wolf must follow federal standards and immediately open businesses who are able to safely operate. He must reopen the economy that he alone closed.
- Fix the failed unemployment compensation system:  At a time when Governor Wolf has forced our unemployment claims to swell to the highest in the nation, he also presided over an unemployment system that was slow, delayed, and broken. He must fix this system now. Unemployed workers and self-employed individuals need a faster response time so that they receive the money needed to support their families during this crisis. Our citizens should not be forced to wait months to receive those payments that they are entitled to by law.
- Release the list of Business Waivers:  Governor Wolf’s poorly conceived business waiver system is inconsistent and secretive. It is too restrictive on small business owners who want to find solutions so that they can still operate while following preventative measures to prevent the virus’s spread. Many waiver requests have still not been acted upon, or have been arbitrarily denied, while others have been inexplicitly approved. Governor Wolf must release the list of business who received a waiver and the process by which they were decided.
We recognize the need for social distancing and other preventative measures in order to mitigate the virus’s spread, but our County’s citizens and small businesses are struggling and demanding the government address the problem, not BE the problem.
​The citizens of Cumberland County want to work, so please Governor Wolf, work with our Republican elected officials and allow Cumberland County citizens to get back to work and exercise their Constitutional rights.
