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WASHINGTON–We have to get Americans back to work, says Indiana Representative Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN-9).

Hollingsworth was asked about the federal government’s response to the coronavirus Tuesday morning by 93 WIBC’s Tony Katz.

“There is no zero harm choice here. We are going to have look Americans in the eye and say ‘we are making the best decisions for the most Americans possible’ and the answer to that to get Americans back to work, to get Americans back to their businesses,” Hollingsworth said.

Hollingsworth says he understands and appreciates what scientists are saying about the impact of the coronavirus.

“But certainly the social scientists are telling us about the economic disaster that is going on. Our GDP is supposed to be down 20% alone this quarter. It is policymakers’ decision to put on our big boy and big girl pants and say it is the lesser of these two evils. It is not zero evil, but it is the lesser of these two evils and we intend to move forward that direction. That is our responsibility and to abdicate that is to insult the Americans that voted us into office,” Hollingsworth said.

Hollingsworth said no amount of effort out of Washington, D.C. is going to solve this problem the way Americans can solve this problem.

“That’s the strength of this country. We have to understand that. We’ve got to get Americans back to work, back to their schools, and back to their churches. That’s where they want to be when I talk to them every single day,” Hollingsworth said.

Katz closed the interview by asking Hollingsworth if the U.S. has a viable trading future with China.

“We have seen them break the rules from a trading perspective. We have seen them break the rules from an intellectual property perspective. And now we have seen them, along with the World Health Organization, hide the coronavirus. We are going to have an antiviral in the next 30-45 days. That’s what people are continually telling me. If China had been forthright about this in September, in October, we would have had an antiviral medication working and operational before this hit our shores. We would have saved lives. We would have stopped this stupid shutdown. If we don’t go after them, this happens 10, 20, or even 30 years from now,” Hollingsworth said.

Hollingsworth represents Indiana’s 9th congressional district. That district stretches from the outer suburbs of Indianapolis to the Indiana side of the Louisville metropolitan area.