Edwards and Trump Meet and Unveil Louisiana’s Reopening Plan

Governor John Bel Edwards meet with President Trump yesterday to outline his recovery and reopening plans for Louisiana.

Edwards talked privately with the president, and then they held a media briefing about their discussion and plans below:

Trump told Edwards:

We’re going to be very careful as we open [the economy]. Lots of governors are reopening, and I know you’re very advanced - going to be very advanced, in getting it going...we’re doing it very carefully.

The federal government will be partnering with Louisiana to providing enough testing kits to test 200,000 residents a month for COVID-19.

Gov. Edwards had this to say about the federal government's help:

This is the big piece that we’ve been looking for and with that commitment, we really feel much better going forward...we’ve obviously turned the corner in Louisiana and we’re in a much better place than we thought was even possible five or six weeks ago. That’s because of our local partners, federal partners, and hard work.

Edwards might be receiving praise in Washington, but back home he's getting the cold shoulder from Republican state representatives who believe Governor Edwards lied to them about his plans on reopening the state and are contemplating a rare attempt to overturn his May 15 stay-at-home extension.