GOP leader calls on Evers to send more aid to nursing homes
MADISON – The Republican leader of the state Senate is calling on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to funnel more federal aid to hospitals and nursing homes to help them during a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu of Oostburg kept the focus on Evers in an interview Wednesday and offered few suggestions for actions lawmakers should take themselves.
LeMahieu said he was leaving it to individuals to decide whether to get vaccinated and was considering expanding voucher school programs so parents have options if their public schools close because of the pandemic.
Evers has broad authority to spend more than $5 billion in federal aid the state has received from Congress to deal with COVID-19 and its economic fallout. Evers has rebuffed attempts by Republican lawmakers to dictate how some of that money is spent.
“He’s the one who has the resources right now to help out hospitals,” LeMahieu said.
Both hospitals and nursing homes are facing staffing shortages and their problems are intertwined. Hospitals can’t release patients to nursing homes because the nursing homes don’t have the capacity to care for them.
LeMahieu said Evers could alleviate the problem by boosting pay for nursing home workers using federal aid.
“It’s been two years of COVID now, so a lot of these people working in health care fields are very stressed, working overtime, picking up shifts, things like that,” he said. “If there’s a way to help them in the short term, you know, it’s better than some of the other things the governor has used this money for.”
Evers spokeswoman Britt Cudaback said the governor had done just that. She noted he provided nursing homes and other facilities with $100 million in federal aid last year and used the state budget to increase payments to health care workers.
Health officials have urged more people to get vaccinated to help prevent hospitalizations. LeMahieu said he didn’t want the government to force people to get vaccinated and would let people make up their own minds.
“People are smart. They’ve had two years to research it, get their own information and make the decision that’s best for their health,” he said.
“I think that anyone can see that the symptoms aren’t as bad on people who have been vaccinated . ... But, you know, people have to make their own personal health decisions.”
Asked if he was vaccinated, LeMahieu said, “It’s really none of your business, but I am vaccinated.”
Cudaback said Republicans like LeMahieu should do more to promote vaccines, as Evers has.
“It’s unfortunate that even now, two years into this pandemic, Republicans in the Legislature still don’t feel the need to do the same,” Cudaback said by email.
LeMahieu expressed frustration that schools in Milwaukee and Madison have temporarily shifted to online learning because of the increase in COVID-19 cases. He said lawmakers may try to expand charter and voucher school programs so parents can send their kids to private schools if their public schools close because of COVID-19.
“If your school districts can be shut down and not do what you think is best for your kids, hey, you go to a charter school, a private school, things like that,” he said.
Wisconsin election review won’t slow Senate
LeMahieu said he planned to end the Senate’s session for the year in March, downplaying the possibility that lawmakers would extend their session to rewrite voting laws.
Assembly Republicans are conducting a review of the 2020 election that was supposed to be complete by the end of December but may take much longer. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester has said the Assembly may extend its session because of the delays.
LeMahieu offered no support for that idea.
“We plan on wrapping things up in the session in March,” LeMahieu said.
The Assembly Republican review is being conducted by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman at a cost to taxpayers of $676,000. Sen. Kathy Bernier, a Lake Hallie Republican who leads the Senate Elections Committee, last month said Gableman’s work was damaging democracy and should be wrapped up quickly.
LeMahieu said he didn’t know enough about the issue to say whether he agreed with Bernier.
“I haven’t really been following or digging too deeply into what former Justice Gableman has been working on,” he said.
Also Wednesday, LeMahieu told the Associated Press he opposes “blowing up” the state’s bipartisan Elections Commission. Some Republicans have called for commissioners to resign because they told election clerks to send absentee ballots to nursing home residents last year instead of following a state law requiring them to send poll workers to the facilities to assist with voting. The commissioners said it didn’t make sense to send the poll workers because nursing homes weren’t allowing visitors during the pandemic.
“Yes, I’m frustrated with some of the things the commission has done over the last couple of years, but that doesn’t mean that blowing it up is the right thing to do unless you know what the alternative is,” LeMahieu told the AP.
He told the AP he thought calls to charge members of the commission with crimes went too far and expressed skepticism toward having lawmakers take over the administration of elections, as U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has backed.