The businesses and constituents of the 40th Assembly District are extremely smart and have been planning and charting a course they need to safely reopen and slowly transition back to normalcy.
Unfortunately, Governor Evers doesn’t believe the same. Instead of being a leader on setting a path to reopen Wisconsin, he abdicated his leadership role to his unelected Department of Health Services bureaucratic Secretary-designee Andrea Palm. She is extending Wisconsin’s “Safer at Home” order by using WI State Statute 252.02 through Memorial Day.
Please read the following response released by my Assembly colleagues and me. As always, I appreciate you sharing this post as well as leaving your comments.
Assembly GOP Frustrated with Governor’s Order, Lack of Recovery Plan
Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R- Kaukauna) along with the Assembly Republican caucus released the following statement concerning Governor Evers’ extension of the Safer at Home order.
“Our phones have been ringing off the hook since the announcement came out. People are frustrated and so are we. Many citizens can’t get through to the governor’s office and have asked us to be their voice. While everyone shares the goal of protecting public health, the governor’s order goes too far. The Safer at Home order’s main intent was to flatten the curve, which we have successfully done to this point, not devastate our families.
“Legislative Republicans are planning to act with legal and legislative options to deal with the extension of the order and get answers to the questions our constituents are demanding.
“Today’s briefing gave no actual metrics, no measurable goals, and most importantly, no clear plan to reopen going forward. The governor can’t just keep extending the date, waiting for some new knowledge to appear. We need to hear from the economic and medical experts who support his continuation of the order as appropriate for Wisconsin's circumstances and not from more politicians.
“The health crisis is changing by day in the state - just three weeks ago, Governor Evers announced the state needed to buy 10,000 ventilators, yet placed an order for only 1500. The prevailing model out of University of Washington has substantially scaled back predicted impacts repeatedly in recent days. The hardest hit city in the nation, New York City, is expected to reopen on May 15. These rapidly changing data points leave in question what indicators the governor is using to continue the extension of an order, which is having far-reaching economic and human impacts in the state.
“The people of Wisconsin are owed a comprehensive, economic recovery plan. We must begin to plan for an easing of restrictions and gradually, possibly through a regional approach, reopen the economy.
“The Evers administration also can’t ignore other health concerns. Wisconsinites can no longer receive preventive care or important health screenings. Unfortunately, one of the unintended consequences will most likely be undiagnosed medical issues left untreated due to this never-expiring order. These emergency orders don’t allow much for citizens to do for their own physical and mental well-being beyond isolating themselves from possible infection of the coronavirus.
“People are not only afraid of the virus, they’re afraid of losing their livelihood. We all know the governor can’t control the coronavirus, but he can control the impact on the state’s economy.
With the economic costs growing daily, we must begin the recovery process before the economic damage can’t be undone.”
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