(Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(MADISON, Wis.) The Wisconsin Senate plans to vote Tuesday on repealing Gov. Tony Evers' statewide mask mandate, according to The Associated Press.
Twenty-nine Republicans sponsored a joint resolution in the Legislature, and the resolution is the only item on the Senate's Tuesday agenda.
To repeal the public health emergency mandate, set to run until March 20, the Republican-led Assembly would also have to pass the resolution, though it's not clear if the Assembly plans to have a vote.
Republicans said Evers exceeded his authority through his public health mandates and that he needed legislative approval.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, GOP Sen. Kathy Bernier of Lake Hallie said she thought the governor was using the mask mandate in a political game of "gotcha."
She said, "The governor wants to put it out as a mandate in order to get the reaction out of the Republican Legislature to be anti-maskers. In fact, it’s not about the mask mandate, it’s about his authority to pass a mask mandate and to re-create an emergency … when in fact he knows he can’t do that.”
Democratic Sen. Kelda Roys of Madison said repealing the mask mandate would only lead to more death.
She said, "Apparently the only thing that Republican legislators in both houses can agree upon is that they want the death rates to climb in this pandemic. They want to prolong the economic devastation. Those are the two guaranteed outcomes of trying to undermine mask-wearing."
The statewide mask mandate has been in place since August. If it is repealed, local mask orders would still remain in effect.