response

State House Democrats are pressing Republican leaders for a quick vote on COVID-19 response plans when the Legislature resumes meeting this week. Democratic leaders rolled out their plan today.

The Democrats’ plan is almost identical to the one proposed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who’s battled with Republicans over the scope of her COVID-19 orders.

   Representative Donna Lasinski is the House Minority Leader. She says political fights should not get in the way of appropriating money that’s already been approved by Congress. 

The state’s Chief Medical Executive was among those who testified today before a joint House and Senate committee examining the state’s COVID-19 response.

This is the first time Whitmer administration officials appeared before the Republican-led COVID panel since the state Supreme Court ruled the governor stretched the limits of her emergency powers.

The director of the state Department of Health and Human Services testified today before a committee examining Michigan’s COVID-19 response.

Director Robert Gordon was called to explain a contact tracing contract with a firm that does political work for Democrats.

The contract was cancelled by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in April after it became public.

Gordon said that decision to award the contract was “a mistake” that occurred as his department was dealing with a wave of COVID-19 cases.

Each state is responding to the COVID-19 outbreak differently. What works well as a Michigan slowly reopens its economy while keeping the population safe? WGVU spoke a researcher whose focus is American disaster response.

The Emergency Management literature lists four stages of disaster response.

“So, you’ve got your preplanning stage. You’ve got the active disaster stage. You’ve got the recovery stage and then you have the lessons learned stage.”

The U.S. House has passed the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in a re-vote. West Michigan Congressional leaders explained they’re “yes” votes through social media.

“Hey, everybody it’s Bill Huizenga coming live from my office in Washington D.C.”

Via Facebook Live the Zeeland Republican explained his vote for tax reform was the right thing to do for the country.