Republican Senators Convene to Pass the Buck

(MADISON)—Today, Senator Tim Carpenter issued the following statement about the political rally held by Legislative Republicans and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today in Wisconsin’s Senate Chambers:

“Since April 15^th, Republican Legislative Leaders have refused to convene session to debate and pass bills to help Wisconsinites during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic fallout. They haven’t even bothered to show up for legislative session for over 150 days. Today however, Republicans held a political rally in the State Senate Chambers for Trump’s re-election.

“The GOP refuses to accept responsibility for their complete failure to combat COVID-19 on the federal and state level. Instead they falsely attempt to shift blame to China for the spread of Coronavirus in the United States because President Trump has failed the American people in combating the pandemic since February. The buck is supposed to stop at the President’s desk, but the GOP refuses to accept any responsibility for their total mismanagement of the virus. Two hundred thousand Americans are now dead because of Donald Trump’s inept and politicized management of this health crisis.

“The Do-Nothing Republican State Legislature has abrogated their responsibilities to the citizens of Wisconsin. The Senate and Assembly Health Committees haven’t held a single meeting to discuss a state public health strategy since March, before we truly understood the scope of the pandemic. The committees on Economic Development and Workforce Development have also been missing in action since March, even as 100,000 Wisconsinites who lost work through no fault of their own are waiting for help from an unemployment system that is broken, and businesses across our state are struggling and in some cases closing forever.

“Instead, Republicans repealed Governor Evers’ Safer at Home order through the Supreme Court, and never bothered to replace it with their own proposals to protect Wisconsinites’ health and economy.

“Republicans in the legislature are against requiring face masks being worn in public, but refuse to offer any alternative public health measures that would help to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Even with the recent spike in cases our state is facing, they seem to be more concerned about college football.

“It’s long overdue that the Do-Nothing Republican Legislature convene session for the purpose of passing legislation to address the health and economic crises that COVID-19 has brought to Wisconsin. It is a farce that these Senators will enter the Chambers now to point fingers and applaud each other instead of consider bills on public health, our state’s economy, or public safety and justice. The people of our state deserve much better than this.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.