It’s been a busy week for Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
As the state continues to fight COVID-19, she is defending herself against a lawsuit from the legislature and citizen petitions to strip her emergency powers.
She’s agreed to pass a budget plan as well as push for climate change in Michigan and an investigation into President Trump.
“We’ve had to work very quickly here and this is an unusual circumstance,” says Gov. Whitmer.
Passing a pandemic stricken budget plan is difficult enough on its own, Whitmer is about to sign a budget she agreed to with the legislature, the same legislature that is currently suing her.
“It’s not about me. These are emergency powers that have been given to governors since 1945,” says Whitmer. “They should transcend this pandemic so that future governors are able to act quickly, especially when lives are on the line.”
While she maintains her strict route is the right one, Michiganders are getting restless. It’s made even worse by a neighbor, Indiana, announcing major rollbacks on restrictions.
“It would give me great pause to think about moving forward, especially with the numbers they have,” says Whitmer, “And yet they are going to and we can’t change that but what we can do is be smart here in Michigan.”
Just Thursday she, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, targeted the Trump administration. Both saying the White House has purposefully ignored Democrat-run states.
“The Trump administration, we have now found out, had masks that they were going to send to us and chose not to,” says Whitmer.
This week, she also pledged to get Michigan carbon neutral by 2050.
“We’re all in this together,” says Whitmer, “There’s no question that climate change is a very real threat to our lives and our livelihood.”
Whitmer says we are still in this COVID-19 emergency but it’s no longer going to hinder her work elsewhere.
“I am the governor of Michigan. I’ve got a job to do and we’re going to continue to run state government,” says Whitmer. “Set aggressive goals around fixing the damn roads as well as all these other these challenges.”
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