Michigan Gov. Whitmer Is Stripped of Her Emergency Powers

 

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been stripped of her emergency powers, which many believe she abused throughout the pandemic.

The Unlock Michigan initiative was approved by the State Senate on July 15 and passed by the House on Thursday.

Fox News reports that the Republican-controlled House passed the measure with a 60-48 vote largely along party lines.

“Yesterday was a great day for Michigan, and yesterday was anything but partisan politics,” Michigan Congresswoman Lisa McClain told “Fox & Friends First” on Friday. “It was the voice of the people saying enough is enough.”

Whitmer had enacted the Emergency Powers of Governor Act of 1945 during the early days of the pandemic to issue some of the harshest mandates in the nation. People in the state were so outraged by her authoritarian orders that there was an armed protest at the state’s Capitol.

“The governor had repelled a similar push to limit her powers in March 2020 when Senate Bill 1 made its way to her desk: The bill aimed to amend the state’s public health code by limiting orders from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to no more than 28 days of effect unless approved by both houses of the State Legislature,” the Fox report notes.

Whitmer vetoed the bill.

“Unfortunately, epidemics are not limited to 28 days,” Whitmer said in a veto letter. “We should not so limit our ability to respond to them.”