Governor Walz should let businesses open if he really wants to support them

After jamming businesses with shutdown orders, in mid-November, Walz sent a letter to Congress urging a relief bill to help businesses stay afloat.

“I would settle for a scaled-down package that targets small employers and workers, specifically around the closures in the hospitality industry, and that’s what I’m asking for,” Walz said.

In his letter, Governor Walz said to Minnesota Legislators,

…. I urge your quick collective action to provide significant, new, and flexible funding for states in an additional COVID relief package, as well as a renewed commitment to maintaining a strong Unemployment Insurance safety net by extending the fiscal supports passed in March and protections for small businesses, so that we can continue to provide needed support to our residents and address budgetary challenges caused by the virus.

But while the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a great deal of difficulty, businesses have suffered more due to the uncertainty and severity surrounding shutdown orders. If Walz wants to help businesses, he needs to let them open.

Reopening would provide relief

The uncertainty surrounding shutdown policies makes it difficult for businesses to plan and survive, hence the need for relief. It is especially concerning that even now, this uncertainty continues, threatening the future of businesses in Minnesota.

Many in the Twin Cities restaurant industry worry, and perhaps expect, that Gov. Walz will ultimately extend the four-week pause well past Dec. 18. For that reason, Kaysen and others are calling for immediate federal relief aid to help struggling business owners and their laid-off employees. 

Forcing businesses to close and then calling for aid is ironic. It is the equivalent of breaking someone’s legs and promising wheelchairs.

If Walz wants to help businesses, he needs to let them open.

Minnesotans keep flocking to Wisconsin where businesses are open, spending money they could otherwise spend on Minnesota businesses.  Shutdown orders, not COVID-19, are what is standing in the way of Minnesota businesses.