Assembly Republicans on Tuesday passed almost a dozen bills aimed at taking control over billions of dollars in federal coronavirus stimulus â funds that Gov. Tony Evers currently has discretion over.
All told, Evers has control over $3.2 billion in federal dollars from the latest stimulus package and the Democratic governor has signaled heâs likely to veto the GOP-authored bills if they reach his desk. Whatâs more, some of the spending proposed by Republicans may not be allowed under federal rules, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Evers, who has unveiled some of his plans for spending those dollars, has already vetoed two Republican bills that would have given the Legislature control over federal coronavirus stimulus funds.
With the only mandatory statewide measure against the coronavirus pandemic now history, a divided state Supreme Court has left battling the virus up to the voluntary choices of each Wisconsin resident and to the power of local health departments.
The 4-3 ruling on March 31 by the court’s conservative majority ended the most recent state of emergency declaration from Gov. Tony Evers to address the pandemic and blocked him from instituting a new one. With it, the court also ended the most recent statewide mask order.
Coupled with last May’s ruling that canceled state’s shelter-in-place order known as Safer at Home, the court’s action Wednesday appears to leave the administration powerless to act directly to curb the spread of the virus, beyond counseling the public.
Virtually all of the Wisconsin lawmakers who responded to a Wisconsin State Journal inquiry said they have or plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine â although the few who say they wonât and the majority of those who didnât respond are Republicans.
The State Journal this week asked each member of the Wisconsin Legislature and the stateâs congressional delegation if they had received the COVID-19 vaccine or if they planned to do so. Several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they plan to get vaccinated once they become eligible. On Monday, eligibility expands to all Wisconsin residents age 16 and older.
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