Swing district GOP challengers to Democrat incumbents in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire are asking President Trump to implement a travel ban from China to protect Americans from the deadly coronavirus spreading across the globe.
Republican Jim Bognet, running in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District against Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA), is asking Trump to “suspend all direct and connecting flights originating in China until the Chinese authorities forcefully address this global public health crisis” as the first person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus has been confirmed in the United States.
“President Trump has never shied away from doing what’s right to put America First,” Bognet said in a statement. “From ordering the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX, to his travel ban at the beginning of the administration, President Trump has always acted decisively to protect America.”
“In the current situation with the deadly Coronavirus, I do not believe we can trust the Chinese Communist Party to take the necessary steps to protect their own citizens, let alone citizens of the United States of America,” Bognet continued. “Chinese leadership has a long record of secrecy and dishonesty in dealing with issues that threaten public safety.”
Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District is a swing region in the state, with three of the district’s five counties voting for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Likewise, Republican Matt Mowers — running against Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District — is calling for a total travel ban from China to shield Americans from contracting the coronavirus.
“The communist government of the People’s Republic of China is clearly incapable of keeping their own citizens safe and unable to control the recent deadly outbreak of coronavirus,” Mowers said in a statement. “With some cases of Coronavirus suspected here in New Hampshire, I urge the President to consider using all available options, including halting flights and other forms of travel from China in order to protect our country from this dangerous, infectious disease.”
“With the spread of this disease, any non-critical travel from mainland China to the United States poses an unnecessary risk,” Mowers said. “We must do everything we can to keep Americans safe.”
Three of the congressional district’s four counties voted for Trump in the 2016 election, making it a highly competitive House race this year.
Bognet and Mowers’ push for a travel ban comes as Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) have urged Trump to implement a plan to restrict travel from China.
Already, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has advised Americans to avoid all non-essential travel to China, and airlines have started canceling all flights to and from China to stop the spreading of the coronavirus. Six cases of the virus have been confirmed in the U.S. while the CDC monitors a number of suspected cases in various states.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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