Michigan Governor Won't Cooperate With GOP Inquiry Into Nursing Homes

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The governor of Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, has declined a request by congressional Republicans to give them records and briefs on the state's handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes.

Whitmer told Republicans that she wouldn't cooperate with their request because the investigatory authority does not lie with individual members. She also believes that the committee's jurisdiction cannot be "stretched" to include the health and safety of a state and its residents. 

"I hope that as members of a federal body tasked with oversight of the federal executive branch during this unprecedented public health crisis you refrain from encroaching on the sovereign power of a state government to deal with state matters," Whitmer wrote in a letter dated Friday.

The Republicans, who are in the minority, do no have the power to get documents or a testimony without the rest of the committee.

Rep. Steve Scalise, blasted Whitmer for not cooperating and blamed the Democrats for not being just as outraged as the Republicans.

"We will continue to call on our Democrat colleagues to join us in getting to the bottom of this and look for other ways to obtain the information being withheld," Scalise said in a statement. "Her stonewalling will not deter us from getting the answers these families deserve.” 

Whitmer's administration has been heavily criticized over their choices to permit the housing of COVID-positive residents in the same facilities as vulnerable individuals without the virus.

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