After being shut out of the decision-making, Republicans clashed Tuesday with Democrats over the proposed extension of Gov. Ned Lamont’s extraordinary powers during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Lamont’s special authority is scheduled to expire April 20, but the state House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Thursday on an extension into mid-May.

Senate Republican leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford said Tuesday that all sides must work together to decide which of Lamont’s 91 executive orders should be codified into law and which ones should be allowed to expire on April 20.

“They’ve known this day was going to come since January when the executive orders were extended. They asked for that date,” Kelly told reporters outside the state Capitol in Hartford. “That is when the homework assignment is due, but yet, they’re like the student who comes to class and says, ‘Hey, I don’t have my homework today. Teacher, can you give me an extension?’ "

Kelly said that the General Assembly needs to become a coequal branch of government, and the state Capitol needs to be reopened after being closed to the general public for more than one year.

“I think it’s time that the legislature rightfully, and constitutionally, gets its voice back,” Kelly said. “It’s time to bring the people’s voice back.’'

But Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said the legislature has been working well with Zoom meetings that have allowed testimony to last 24 hours in several committees. Republicans have complained that some witnesses have been unable to testify, but Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said that his constituents in lower Fairfield County have testified by Zoom when they never would have taken the long drive to the state Capitol.

Looney said he would not speculate on whether the Capitol will remain closed until the legislative session ends on June 6.

“It is hard to predict right now,” he said.

Even though Republicans have not been invited to any high-level meetings about extending the executive orders, Looney said, “I have no objection to that, and I don’t think the governor does, either.”

Despite concerns about extending the orders, Senate Republicans declined to reveal which ones they would want extended. When asked if Republicans would offer an amendment next week on the Senate floor with a package of orders that they want extended, Kelly said, “It’s premature at this point to get into what we would or wouldn’t do.”

Asked which orders should be allowed to expire, Kelly said, “Off the top of my head, I don’t know at this time.’'

House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford said that Lamont’s powers have lasted too long at a time when much of the state has re-opened after a shutdown one year ago.

“We have a government that is structured as a monarchy and a plutocracy as opposed to a democracy,” Candelora said Monday. “The legislature in Connecticut is taking up more of a role of Parliament, and we’re resembling England more than we’re resembling the United States of America. ... We are reaching the point of absurdity with continuing with the same structure that we had a year ago.”