Tony Evers and GOP clash over COVID-19 legislation that would empower budget committee to cut spending. (Wisconsin State Journal, 4/8/2020)
LIKELY??!! Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-led Legislature are poised for another clash — this time over the GOP's COVID-19 response legislation, which calls for further weakening the governor's authority by giving the state's GOP-led budget committee the ability to cut spending on schools, health care and employee pay, among other things.
Currently such cuts have to be agreed upon by the committee and Democratic governor. Evers said the provision makes the package unworkable and he would likely veto it.
For Autocrats, and Others, Coronavirus Is a Chance to Grab Even More Power. (The New York Times, 3/30/2020)
Oh, rest assured, it will be abused in Wisconsin. As the coronavirus pandemic brings the world to a juddering halt and anxious citizens demand action, leaders across the globe are invoking executive powers and seizing virtually dictatorial authority with scant resistance.
Governments and rights groups agree that these extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. States need new powers to shut their borders, enforce quarantines and track infected people. Many of these actions are protected under international rules, constitutional lawyers say.
But critics say some governments are using the public health crisis as cover to seize new powers that have little to do with the outbreak, with few safeguards to ensure that their new authority will not be abused.
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