Last updated: Thursday, Dec. 19 at 4:34 p.m. This post will be regularly updated over the final days of the Michigan Legislature’s lame-duck session.
Tears, fingerpointing and cursing reverberated through the Michigan House on Thursday afternoon as leadership adjourned for the year without votes for the second straight day, ending the Democrats’ two-year governing trifecta.
House Speaker Joe Tate, Detroit, pulled the plug after failing to secure votes amid walkouts by all Republicans and Democratic state Rep. Karen Whitsett, who on Thursday returned to the Capitol — but not the House floor.
Though staff announced the House would reconvene at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 31, House Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, told reporters that was only so she could officially end the legislative session for the year at that time.
“Everything that was on the agenda today in the House is dead, and the 55 members that did not attend should feel free to own that,” Pohutsky said, tears in her eyes.
Related: Michigan House kills hundreds of bills. See what died on final day of Dem control
Her frustration was shared by other lawmakers in the chamber after multiple days of legislative stagnation.
Neither Whitsett nor Democratic Sen. Sylvia Santana, both representing Detroit, attended session on Wednesday. Both told reporters they felt Michigan’s Black communities were not being paid enough attention to, and their priorities had fallen to the side in favor of pushing corporate incentives.
House Republicans began their boycott last week, demanding Democrats take up bills addressing the state’s pending minimum wage, sick leave and tipped wage changes in 2025.
Whitsett, explaining why she did not return to the floor Thursday, alleged Tate “would not negotiate in good faith.”
She and House Speaker-elect Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, took questions from reporters following Thursday’s session.
“They told me, they promised me, they weren’t going to lock me in here and that’s exactly what they did,” Whitsett said, referring to Tate’s decision to issue a “call of the House,” an order for sergeants to bring lawmakers back to session and bar the chamber doors.
“I can’t believe the Speaker of the House, Joe Tate, is so heartless and wanted me to push the button for bills that he knows have not been vetted,” she said.
Hall accused Democrats of “trying to bait” Whitsett into returning to the House for a vote on a water affordability package, something she’d long sought, despite not having enough support to pass the measure.
Tate did not speak with reporters after session.
But Rep. Abraham Aiyash, majority floor leader and a Hamtramck Democrat, pushed back against Whitsett’s claims. He said leadership never told Whitsett water affordability would pass, and that one Democrat — newly elected state Rep. Peter Herzberg of Westland — “had no interest” in the proposal.
“Quite frankly, it became a point where there was no more logic in some of the things that were brought up … We were working at every possible turn to secure those votes, but there was no guarantee that it was going to move,” Aiyash said.
Hall, however, was skeptical, saying: “This whole lame duck, Joe Tate has not had a plan.”
Whitsett took that a step further.
“The whole two years he hasn’t had a plan.”
—Jordyn Hermani
House abruptly adjourns after days of dysfunction
Thursday, Dec. 19
The Michigan House abruptly adjourned Thursday afternoon, roughly one hour after Speaker Joe Tate of Detroit had ordered sergeants to bring missing members back to session.
The surprise decision capped days of dysfunction in the chamber, where Republicans walked out last week, and Democratic Rep. Karen Whitsett followed suit, eliminating her party’s narrow voting majority.
The adjournment scuttled plans to vote on dozens of bills in what was expected to be the chamber’s final session day before Democrats lose control of the House to Republicans next year.
Tate, however, did not end voting for the year. The chamber is adjourned until Dec. 31 — New Year’s Eve — meaning Democrats could again try to pass bills on the final day of the year.
The Senate seemed to resolve its attendance issues Thursday when Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, returned to the chamber after boycotting votes the day prior, saying she was displeased with what had yet to pass.
That included water affordability bills, police reform and addressing maternal mortality rates — proposals that Whitsett largely supported too.
Thursday’s tentative House agenda had included planned votes on government transparency bills, gun reforms, maternal health, child labor and water affordability bills, among others. — Jonathan Oosting and Jordyn Hermani
House leader orders missing lawmakers back Thursday, Dec. 19
Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate on Thursday authorized a “call of the House,” ordering sergeants to bring missing lawmakers back to session during what could be the final voting day of the year.
The rare step came as holdout Democratic state Rep. Karen Whitsett had an abrupt change of heart Thursday afternoon, returning to Lansing but not yet returning to the House floor for votes. The Detroit lawmaker skipped session Wednesday, demanding votes on water affordability bills and others.
House Republicans, meanwhile, walked out of the chambers last week. As of Thursday morning, they were spread across the state for press conferences urging Democrats to take up bills to scale back pending wage and sick leave changes.
As she returned to the Capitol Thursday, Whitsett was accompanied by two former House lawmakers. Ahead of the call of the House, she told Capitol outlet Gongwer News Service that she planned to only vote on specific legislation before heading home.
A call of the House requires all lawmakers to return to the Capitol for voting and prohibits them from leaving unless the speaker allows it. Staff and reporters may come and go from the chamber, though the former may be removed from the House floor at the behest of leadership.
Democrats are attempting to pass a slew of bills before losing their majority in the state House, where Republicans will take over next year.
House Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, told reporters that the Senate and House were both adding over 100 bills to their agendas for Thursday.
The tentative House agenda already included planned votes on government transparency bills, gun reforms, maternal health, child labor and water affordability bills, among others.
“There’s a ton of work we have yet to do,” Pohutsky said.
She could not comment on whether the House could still schedule additional voting days. As of 1:40 p.m. Whitsett has also not been seen on the House floor.The Senate, meanwhile, was at recess until 2 p.m. — Jordyn Hermani
Republicans skip session again, demand action on wage and leave lawsThursday, Dec. 19