LANSING — Today, the House of Representatives voted on the One Fair Wage and MI Time to Care citizen ballot initiatives, which would increase the minimum wage and guarantee paid sick leave for all, respectively. The proposals passed. In response, state Rep. Brian K. Elder (D-Bay City) issued the following statement:

“When hundreds of thousands of Michiganders signed on to support these initiatives, they did so with the hope that the policies would be on their ballots come November. I came to Lansing to represent the interests of my people, and they have made their interests clear.

“Republicans have been brazenly honest about their intent to pass these initiatives today, only to gut them months from now and weaken their benefit for working families. I have and will continue to stand in support of protecting workers’ health care and their paychecks; however, I refuse to play along with Republicans’ insulting shell game today by helping them pass policies I believe in, only to gut them later, and that is why I was unable to support this irresponsible bait-and-switch effort. Working families in Michigan deserve better.”

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