Hunger Task Force workers distribute food at McGovern Park in Milwaukee on Thursday. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
MADISON, Wis. (CN) Wisconsin Republicans on Thursday abruptly dropped plans to terminate a public health emergency the Democratic governor declared over the coronavirus pandemic when it came to light that millions of dollars in federal food stamp funds would be jeopardized if they went through with it.
After the GOP-majority Wisconsin Senate voted on Tuesday in favor of a joint resolution to end Governor Tony Evers’ latest public health emergency order and subsequent mask mandate, the Assembly also controlled by Republicans was slated to do the same Thursday morning. Evers would not have been able to veto the resolution if it passed.
Wisconsin Assembly delays vote on revoking state s mask mandate
The resolution doesn t need the governor s signature to go into effect.
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Lawmakers introduced a joint resolution last week, with more than two dozen Republicans signing onto the measure that would restrict Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ emergency powers, including a declaration that mandated mask usage in indoor public spaces.
Evers issued the mask mandate last summer, shortly after Minnesota put a similar measure into place. He recently extended the mandate into March.
The resolution passed the Senate 18-13 earlier this week, and the state Assembly was set to vote on it on Thursday but decided to delay the vote out of fear the state could lose out on more than $49 million in federal aid, Channel 3000 says. Instead, Assembly members are working to ensure they won t lose aid if they pass the resolution.
January 29, 2021
Perspective by Dan O’Donnell
To believe liberals is to believe that Wisconsin narrowly averted a catastrophe Thursday when the State Assembly decided at the last minute to delay a vote to end Governor Evers’ statewide mask mandate. To believe conservatives is to believe that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos once again sold out the movement to help his big business cronies.
Believe neither.
Vos did indeed cancel a vote on the Senate’s resolution to end the public health emergency Governor Evers declared earlier this month (a vote that would also end the state’s mask mandate, which was issued using the Governor’s emergency powers), but it is likely that this is only a temporary delay.
A tedious familiarity: Why even the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine has been a hot mess
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” – A quote improperly attributed to Albert Einstein
Back in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic it was clear that a lack of coordination between the federal, state and local governments led to not just delays, but major confusion. Well guess what? Here we are again.
Despite the promise that 20 million Americans would be inoculated with the first dose of vaccine from either Pfizer or Moderna by year end, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that less than 3 million were inoculated by December 31. They reported that some 12.4 million doses had been distributed even though several media reports said the number was 14 million doses. That means that less than one fourth of the doses that had been distributed had been given to Americans by the end of 202