New Hampshire Gov. Sununu Blasts Fellow Republicans for ‘Communism’ After They Reject Request for $27 Million in Covid-19 Funding

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) dueled with his fellow Republicans on Wednesday, accusing them of “communism” as they turned down his demand to approve $27 million in federal funding related to Covid-19.

The raucous debate took place at a meeting of the state Executive Council, which holds the power to veto contracts sought by the governor valued at more than $10,000. Sununu was seeking to approve two federal contracts worth $27 million in funding related to Covid-19. The money would have been used for tasks including vaccine outreach and data entry for the state’s immunization system.

Republicans expressed reservations about signing off on the contracts, citing President Joe Biden’s mandate requiring businesses to force their employees to be  vaccinated. They asked Sununu to issue a counter-mandate, but Sununu refused.

The debate over #COVID19 vaccine funding pitted @GovChrisSununu vs. fellow Republicans on the Executive Council. Sununu told them their reservations were “based on fantasy” & their insistence he try to stop private sector mandates amounted to “pure communism.” #NHPolitics #WMUR pic.twitter.com/DnjWcRaSlI

— Adam Sexton (@AdamSextonWMUR) October 14, 2021

“I appreciate you have reservations, but they’re based on fantasy,” Sununu told Republican Councilor Joe Kenney. “They’re not fantasy, governor, because people are being laid off left and right,” Kenney responded.

“That’s not the government’s doing!” Sununu shot back, raising his voice. After some back-and-forth, he added, “It would be a restriction on an [employer] if I told Fred’s Flower Shop that he had keep all four of his employees hired, regardless of whether they’re vaccinated or not.”

Kenney reiterated his point that the issue was undermining state employment, to which Sununu replied that it would be “communism” for the state to counter Biden’s mandate. “You can’t say the Biden administration is forcing a mandate here, and we have to stop it, but the state government should institute a mandate here and force it to stop the way we want it,” Sununu said. “That isn’t even socialism, that actually is pure communism.”

The council voted to reject 4-1 to reject Sununu’s request, with Democratic Councilor Cinde Warmington casting the sole vote in his favor.

Watch above via Twitter.