Name: Senate Republicans offer 5-phase plan to restart Michigan's economy
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Senate Republicans offer 5-phase plan to restart Michigan's economy

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Detroit Free Press The Senate Republican caucus has presented Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with a five-phase plan to jumpstart Michigan’s economy."The Senate Republican caucus believes it is our responsibility to propose a framework for Michiganders to live life in the presence of COVID-19, safely,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake. “Michigan remains an outlier amongst states with strict stay-at-home orders.”The first phase of the plan calls for businesses that can maintain social distancing and provide personal protective equipment,&nbsp;such as masks and gloves for its employees, to be able to operate now, even as both the number of cases and deaths from coronavirus are rising. It calls for residents to wear masks while performing essential tasks, such as grocery shopping and picking up prescriptions.More:More:The other four&nbsp;phases:The Republican plan also says&nbsp;that parts of the state that haven't had as many coronavirus cases should be able to open up quicker.Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, called the GOP plan a misstep on a particularly deadly day.“On the day that Michigan reached 2,000 dead, Senate Republicans issued a haphazard plan that has no input from the frontline responders who are saving lives every day," he said. "I said from the beginning that we’re going to get though this together. One man’s idea is not a plan.”&nbsp;The GOP report upstages the work being done by a task force, appointed by Shirkey last week, that was expected to submit the first phase of its proposal to Shirkey on Friday.The bipartisan task force had come up with a more broad outline in its first week of work, but also is reaching out to business owners and workers, through a website — www.MiSafeworkplaces.com — to see how they can begin operating again while keeping employees and customers safe. That input will be incorporated into a final report that is submitted to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, a member of the bipartisan task force, called the GOP plan "ridiculous" on Twitter. "I serve on the bipartisan work group. We've been having productive conversations &amp; moving toward consensus about safe workplace practices, bringing in public health experts. Now Senate GOP releases its own plan? What happened to bipartisanship?," she tweeted.Shirkey said he hopes the bipartisan task force will incorporate the work done by the GOP caucus.The GOP plan comes a day after thousands of people converged on Lansing to protest Whitmer's second &nbsp; stay-at-home order, which has shuttered much of the businesses in the state and mandates&nbsp;that people stay at home in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus until May 1.Republicans have been especially critical of tighter restrictions in&nbsp;the order, which also bans visits between households, and is more forceful about which businesses have&nbsp;to stay closed, including garden stores and nurseries, as well as landscaping businesses.&nbsp;Whitmer has said she is just as anxious to get Michigan's economy rolling again, but added those decisions won't happen until the health data on coronavirus will support such a jump start."Reengaging our state too soon and too fast will lead&nbsp;to a second wave of coronavirus. And as&nbsp;tough&nbsp;as this is, we know we don’t want to go through this again," she said Wednesday. "Getting it right saves lives and will be better for the economy in the long run."Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.

Detroit Free Press The Senate Republican caucus has presented Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with a five-phase plan to jumpstart Michigan’s economy."The Senate Republican caucus believes it is our responsibility to propose a framework for Michiganders to live life in the presence of COVID-19, safely,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake. “Michigan remains an outlier amongst states with strict stay-at-home orders.”The first phase of the plan calls for businesses that can maintain social distancing and provide personal protective equipment,&nbsp;such as masks and gloves for its...

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Kathleen Gray

The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primarily serves Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Washtenaw, and Monroe counties.  The Free Press is also the largest city newspaper owned by Gannett, which also publishes USA Today. The Free Press has received ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards. Its motto is "On Guard for 189 Years".

Senate Republicans offer 5-phase plan to restart Michigan's economy

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