LANSING, Mich. — Legislative Republicans attempted to score political points today by dismantling Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s authority during a worldwide pandemic that has already affected more than one million Americans and yielded more deaths than the Vietnam War.
Over the past two weeks, Michigan’s Republican leaders have dragged legislators from all over the state to Lansing — increasing the chance of spreading the virus and putting countless lives at risk in the process — to shortchange and undermine the governor, who has saved lives with her efforts.
On April 24, they convened an emergency session just to pass legislation to limit the governor’s authority, despite no chance of it receiving the governor’s signature and despite the fact that every executive order signed has been driven by what is best for the public’s health and safety.
Today, the GOP callousness went even further with the passage of an amended version of Senate Bill 858, which would force the state to reopen more quickly and less safely than even the plan that the Senate GOP proposed themselves just two weeks ago and that would end the much needed executive order creating the Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities. They also passed Senate Resolution 114, which allows the majority leader to take legal action against the governor, despite a Michigan court ruling that the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” does not infringe on constitutional rights. Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) issued the following statement:
“Republican leaders believe they can just legislate a health crisis away.
May God — and science — protect us.”
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