Capitol News

Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) recently addressed the failure of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to do her part in guiding the state out of the economic crisis, even though the COVID-19 curve has been flattening in the state.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Whitmer called for the residents to help to “flatten the curve,” Shirkey said in a recent video address published to YouTube.

“Michiganders did just that,” Shirkey said in the video. “We stayed home from work, school and church. We closed our businesses. And as much as we wanted to, we didn’t visit our loved ones in nursing homes or in hospitals.”

Michigan’s residents made sacrifices because they backed the goal of keeping their loved ones and critical workers on the front lines safe, he said. Yet, four months in, with every measure declining and the curve flattened, Whitmer claims a state of emergency is still justified.

“For too many Michiganders, the emergency now isn’t medical, it’s economic,” Shirkey told his constituents.

Households are faced with bills piling up that they can’t pay, small businesses are still closed and many will never reopen, and those in both sectors continue to fall behind on mortgages and loans, he said. Yet in the midst of the crisis, Whitmer provides no clear direction for how the state is expected to recover from this situation.

“An end to the state of emergency doesn’t mean that our battle with the coronavirus is over,” Shirkey said in the video. “Unfortunately, it will be with us for some time to come, but we know what to do to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.”

Shirkey called on Whitmer to outline a specific set of goals for Michiganders and what they must do to move out of the perpetual state of emergency she has maintained.