Detention bill has no chance, Cahill says
Republican state Assemblyman Chris Tague is highly critical of a bill that proposes detaining people who pose a danger to public health, but Democratic counterpart Kevin Cahill says the bill has no support and that Tague is just grandstanding.
“It doesn’t have a cosponsor, [and] it doesn’t have a Senate sponsor,” said Cahill, D-Kingston. “All it has is an opportunity for Chris Tague to spout off about something that is never going to become law.”
Tague, R- Schoharie, said the bill introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Nick Perry of Brooklyn “is unconstitutional, inhumane and is a perfect example of why our Constitution exists in the first place. The Bill of Rights was created to protect us from dangerous legislation such as this, which is ignorant of human history as well as the law.”
The bill (A00416) calls for, among other things, the “removal and detention of cases, contacts and carriers who are or may be a danger to public health.”
“We fought our revolution to stop an autocratic king from doing exactly what this bill proposes,” Tague said. “And for us to give up our basic right to due process out of unreasonable fear would be an insult to those who have fought and died for centuries to keep us a free people.”
“Bills like this, pushed by socialist Democrats from New York City, are the reason so many people distrust our government,” the Republican added.
Cahill said Tague’s words fall flat, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our economy is crushed, kids and teachers are being challenged to carry on education in uninvented ways, our communities are experiencing unprecedented waves of gun violence, democracy is being threatened by someone who is pulling out all the stops to subvert the people’s election,” Cahill said. “Who has time to listen to Chris Tague’s ‘wah-wahs’?”