Michigan Senate Republicans voted to reject five of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s appointees to state positions, continuing their effort to force the governor to the negotiating table over her COVID-19 restrictions.
"This governor has done everything possible to avoid working with the elected members of this chamber," said Republican state Sen. Aric Nesbitt of the effort, noting that the governor should be forced to work with the “people’s representatives.”
At issue is Whitmer’s continued COVID-19 restrictions, which now limit indoor dining capacity to 25% and have banned some winter school sports. The GOP-controlled legislature has repeatedly called on the governor to involve them in making pandemic decisions, but Whitmer has mostly blocked lawmakers from having a say in the process.
Michigan’s GOP-controlled Senate hopes to force her to the bargaining table by blocking her nominees, voting 20-14 on party lines to reject the latest round of five appointments. The move comes one week after Republicans blocked 13 of the governor’s nominees.
“Yesterday’s action on appointments was a purposeful political gesture,” Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey said. “Not a gesture to score points, but a gesture to make a point. Until this governor stops acting unilaterally and invests in and encourages and invites in the Legislature to be a part of some of these decisions, not all of them, then we’re relegated to using the tools given to us in our Constitution and our statutes.”
State Sen. Ed McBroom criticized the governor for nearly a year of unilateral action that many feel have overstepped what is necessary.
“After 11 months of rejecting the qualified voices of our citizens, these same voices demand some effort to rebalance the scales,” McBroom said. “But the actual authority we have to do anything in a world where the executive has nearly all the avenues is very small. She can move money to nearly any place in the state government she wants without us. She can suspend what people wear, where they go, what they buy, where they can work, when they can work, where they can eat. She even strove to limit who we could have in our own homes … and all this is done without any debate.”
But Democrats countered that the GOP has not offered a plan to deal with the pandemic.
“Is this all a fight to make sure water parks and strip clubs are open in the state,” said Democratic state Sen. Curtis Hertel. “Is it about us adopting your plan to protect the public? Well, that can’t be, because quite frankly, the plan doesn’t exist. If you’re willing to put on the table what you are for and not what you’re against, then maybe that would be a reasonable thing.”
Whitmer’s office did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
