LoginDemocrats, Republicans kill lame duck in Michigan House
Democratic control of the state Capitol for the first time in four decades fizzled to a close Thursday, as House leaders were unable to muster a quorum to conduct business and adjourned until next year — when Republicans will take over the House.
Fifty-four Republicans plus one rogue Democrat, Karen Whitsett of Detroit, brought the House to a standstill.
House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) made a last-ditch attempt to force Republicans and Whitsett to return by issuing a “call of the House,” requiring lawmakers to be in attendance.
“Sergeants, please bring members back to the chamber and bar the doors,” said House Speaker Pro Tempore Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia), who was presiding over the chamber. The order was approved on a voice vote and with no Republicans on hand to object.
But the effort to bring in the recalcitrant Republicans was for naught and Democrats called it quits, ending the Democrats’ two-year reign over the lower chamber.
“The bottom line is this: they refused to do their jobs and stifled the voices of their constituents who elected them to represent them.”
–House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit)
“Everything that was on the agenda today in the House is dead and the 55 members that did not attend should feel free to own that,” said Pohutsky.
Tate, in a statement, said Whitsett and GOP lawmakers let down voters by not showing up.
“The bottom line is this: they refused to do their jobs and stifled the voices of their constituents who elected them to represent them,” he wrote in a message that also named House Minority Leader Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp).
The unfinished business includes expanding Michigan’s open records law to include the governor’s office and the Legislature, as well as gun control measures including a ban on bump stocks.
Hall, the Republican leader who will take the speaker’s gavel next year, was unapologetic. He said Republicans walked out over issues that Democrats refused to take up and says those will be at the top of his to-do list in 2025.
“We’re going to try to help our restaurant workers save the restaurant industry,” he said. “We’re going to fight for good sick leave policies that work for people, and we’re going to try to fix the roads.”
Republicans and restaurant industry lobbyists have been fighting to stop a planned minimum wage hike for tipped workers. They claim — without evidence — that 40,000 restaurants would go out of business if workers make $15 an hour.
The Republicans and Whitsett boycotted sessions, saying the Democratic leadership ignored their demands. Republicans have been particularly adamant about preserving the state’s tipped wage to keep it lower than the minimum wage and gutting the new law that guarantees workers banked sick leave.
Whitsett said Democratic leaders had broken promises on taking up legislation.
But Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) said no one had been offered guarantees and, instead, it was Whitsett and Republicans who bargained in bad faith and then refused to show up for work.
“Goal posts kept moving and the conversations fell apart, but we are disappointed and, quite frankly, shocked,” he said.
In an interview with WDET, Aiyash said one of the priorities for Democrats — water affordability legislation — was scuttled not by Whitsett, but another Democratic colleague.
“Representative [Peter] Herzberg from Westland killed our water affordability package, which was a very critical piece of the puzzle to keep Rep. Whitsett engaged in the conversation in order for us to pass legislation,” Aiyash said. “Unfortunately, he (Herzberg) opposed the legislation. Couldn’t really explain why, and we are now here where our agenda was thwarted as a result of inaction by my colleagues.”
Listen: Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash speaks on boycott in Michigan House
Where’s Whitmer?
In past lame duck sessions, governors will work directly with legislative leaders to sort out priorities. This was how Republicans — and then-Gov. Rick Snyder — were able to gut paid sick leave and pass right-to-work legislation.
However, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has largely been absent from the end of the democratic trifecta.
“I have not had any engagement with her since this entire lame duck period,” Aiyash said. When asked by WDET if that was the case for other Democrats, Aiyash wasn’t sure if other legislators had a similar experience.
Curtis Hertel, a Whitmer ally who is running to be the Michigan Democratic Party Chair, sees it differently.
“I think sometimes you have to not do the easy political thing, but you actually have to do the thing that’s hard, which is work in a room, and after trying to solve problems and not air your negotiations in public,” Hertel said. “To me, that actually is how you actually get things done.”
Still, with dozens of bills needing a vote in the House, nothing got done.
The House has one more official day scheduled on Dec. 31, but “sine die” is simply a formality to close the session. The House will reconvene in January with Republicans at the helm, along with the opportunities and headaches that come with it.
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