Earlier, I wrote a story about how Doug Ducey [R], the outgoing Governor of Arizona, is for vaccination. He encourages people to get the Covid vaccine, in fact. He just doesn’t do this in public, and in fact hasn’t done anything to slow down the spread of Covid. I contacted him with a challenge to cite even one example where Ducey was promoting vaccines. They never answered.
But being a Republican Governor, he’s determined to kill off every child allow Covid to spread in schools: When a school issues a common-sense masking policy, he shoots it down. It was bad enough, that the Department of Education got involved, threatening to withhold federal money.
Ducey then tried supplying funds only to schools that did not have a mask policy. The Treasury Department said no way, and that they’d fund the schools he was withholding money from.
And the Arizona Supreme Court said his policy was unconstitutional.
The Treasury Department set a time limit (mid March-ish).
And thus we arrive at the present. Ducey has decided to sue Biden.
[For those of you who are worrying about “Fox” in the URL, note that this is not Fox News, but rather the local Fox TV station in Phoenix.]
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey sued the Biden administration on Jan. 21 over its demand that the state stop sending millions in federal COVID-19 relief money to schools that don’t have mask requirements or that close due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Phoenix comes a week after the U.S. Treasury Department demanded that Ducey either restructure the $163 million program to eliminate restrictions it says undermine public health recommendations or face a repayment demand. The Treasury Department also wants changes to a $10 million program Ducey created that gives private school tuition money to parents if their children's schools have mask mandates.
Ducey’s lawsuit said the Treasury Department created restrictions on spending the money Arizona receives under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act on its own and without legal authority. It asks a court to declare that the Treasury Department's rules are illegal and permanently block enforcement and any demands that it pay back the $173 million it is spending on the two programs.
In a tweet, Ducey said, “President Biden needs to stay in his federal lane and let Arizona’s parents and families make the best decisions for their kids.” Hmmm. The last time I checked, (1) Arizonans lived in the United States, too, and (2) a large number of Arizona parents do want mask policies.
Further: “Nothing in that underlying statute authorizes Treasury to condition the use of (ARPA) monies on following measures that, in the view of Treasury, stop the spread of COVID-19.” I seem to recall reading an old document … let me dig it up …
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
(boldface mine) Looks like the government set up by the Constitution is intended, in part, to make sure its population remains healthy. But I have been wrong before ...