FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
Christy McGillivray
christy.mcgillivray@sierraclub.org
808-726-5325
Sierra Club Condemns Senate Leaders for Playing Politics with Public Health
Lansing, MI -- Sierra Club strongly condemns the Senate Republicans’ stunt to hold up Governor Whitmer’s appointments to the Natural Resources Commission and the Agriculture and Rural Development Commission in an effort to force the Governor’s hand in relaxing COVID-19 protections.
“It is unconscionable that Senate Republicans continue to ignore the advice of medical professionals and epidemiologists in the middle of a global pandemic. Petty and dangerous stunts like this undermine Michiganders’ confidence in public health guidelines and they put more lives at risk,” said Christy McGillivray, the Political and Legislative Director for the Michigan Chapter of Sierra Club.
The work of the Natural Resources Commission and the Agriculture and Rural Development Commission are not directly related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the work of these bodies is important to the environmental and economic health of our state. By standing in the way of the work of these commissions Senate Republicans are putting extreme partisanship ahead of a functioning state government. These antics place more stress on our fragile democracy in the wake of the mendacious and violent attacks that followed the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn a free and fair election.
It is time for all Michiganders to put extreme partisanship aside and work together for our shared goals of pandemic recovery and an economic recovery. Sierra Club calls on Senate Republicans to work with the Whitmer administration and public health experts to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control, and to stop playing politics with basic public health protections.
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