WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton on Monday called for a national ban on all "non-essential business activity," arguing that the move is necessary to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
He also called for sweeping financial assistance for the millions of Americans who have been harmed by the pandemic.
In a speech on the Senate floor, the Dardanelle Republican said "extraordinary measures" must be implemented in order to save lives.
"You can call it a shutdown, you can call it a quarantine. You can call it a curfew. You can call it whatever you want, but no one should be going to work in this country unless they are involved in essential activities -- groceries, pharmacies, delivering goods to those places. Electricity, water, sanitation, public safety -- anything else poses too great a risk to public health," Cotton said.
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Federal, state and local employees who perform"non-essential government services" should also stop going into work, he said. Government employees who can do so should telecommute, he added.
In addition, the U.S. military should be mobilized "to provide defense support of civilian authorities," Cotton said.
"This is a mission the military long plans for; they are rarely called upon to do so, but an urgent hour is approaching --especially at our hospitals, and our nursing homes, and other health care facilities -- when our young men and women in uniform could be called upon to support our great doctors and our nurses to provide additional capacity to treat patients, not just with this coronavirus, but with other urgent needs as well," he said.
Congress must also take some "pretty drastic measures" to help those who become ill or unemployed or unable to work due to child care obligations, he said.
While praising portions of the House-backed coronavirus package, Cotton said it does not go far enough. Rather than providing tax credits to cover sick leave, government agencies should also be distributing funds directly to those sickened by the virus or idled by virus-related work stoppages or forced to stay home because their children's schools have closed.
Cotton's comments came on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted nearly 3,000 points, with medical officials bracing for a spike in life-threatening coronavirus-related illnesses.
In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Monday evening, Cotton stressed the need for decisive action.
"We need to move aggressively to get ahead of this problem at this point," he said.
A lack of decisive action will prove costly, he predicted.
"Look at what has happened with Italy in just two weeks," he said.
"Two weeks ago Italians were enjoying spring weather, drinking coffee and sipping wine at restaurants and bars. Today, elderly Italians are being denied care and administered last rites at hospitals because their hospital system is totally overloaded," he said. "I know it will cause hardship and dislocation. But the more aggressive we are now, the shorter this crisis period will be."
Cotton has been warning of a potential health crisis for most of the year.
He told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 30 that the coronavirus was "the biggest and the most important story in the world."
"This coronavirus is a catastrophe on the scale of Chernobyl for China. But actually, it's probably worse than Chernobyl, which was localized in its effect. The coronavirus could result in a global pandemic," he warned military officials and colleagues. Chernobyl was a 1986 nuclear plant disaster in Ukraine.
While the Senate was conducting President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, Cotton was on the telephone with White House officials, urging them to ban travel from mainland China to the U.S.
The administration in late January placed restrictions on travel between the two countries, a move Trump has credited with helping to slow the spread of the virus.
Monday's call for a shutdown, quarantine or curfew puts Cotton at odds with some of his Republican colleagues.
U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Sunday encouraged Fox News viewers to "go to your local pub."
"If you're healthy, you and your family, it's a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant, likely you can get in easily," he said.
Asked about those types of statements, Cotton said, "I haven't seen those, but I suggest that is bad advice. Bad advice for your family, bad advice for public health."
Cotton announced Thursday that his Capitol Hill staff would be telecommuting after a Senate employee from Washington state tested positive for the virus.
By Monday, the practice had been adopted by many other lawmakers. The four House members from Arkansas all instructed their Capitol Hill employees to work remotely. U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, also has most of his D.C. staff working from home.
A Section on 03/17/2020