Nunes Complains Schools Closing In Response To Coronavirus Outbreak Is ‘Way Overkill’

Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Devin Nunes speaks during a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee on November 19, 2019. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin - Pool/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Brought to you by the congressman who argued it’s a “great time to just go out and go to a local restaurant” during the COVID-19 outbreak.

“The schools were just canceled out here in California, which is way overkill,” Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “It’s possible kids could’ve went back to school in two weeks to four weeks but they just canceled the rest of the schools.”

Saying he was “optimistic” about efforts to combat the coronavirus outbreak, the GOP lawmaker indicated that he disagreed with President Donald Trump’s decision to extend social distancing guidelines to April 30.

“I don’t believe we can wait until the end of April,” Nunes told Ingraham. “I just don’t know of any economy that’s ever survived where you unplug the entire economy and expect things to go back and be normal.”

The Republican’s flippant attitude about the pandemic landed him in hot water several weeks ago after he suggested people spend time in pubs and restaurants despite public health officials’ warnings that doing so would exacerbate the devastating outbreak.

Nunes defended his remarks several days later, saying that “these media freaks don’t have a clue what’s going on out in the real world.”

Latest News
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: