By Ben Solis, Michigan Advance
A key Republican legislator announced Tuesday that the Michigan House of Representatives’ full budget plan could land as soon as next week, but hours later, Republican House Speaker Matt Hall gave that pronouncement a swift kick to the knees, publicly contradicting his own appropriations chair.
In a news conference hosted Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids), the leader and her Democratic colleagues called Hall’s continued antics on the budget “unprecedented chaos.”
The already tense and befuddling budget fight hit a new point of confusion when Republican House Appropriations Chair Rep. Ann Bollin of Brighton announced Tuesday morning that the chamber was nearing atmospheric reentry on its long-awaited budget proposal to fund the whole of state government.
Bollin estimated that the plan could land soon, possibly next week, giving the politically fractured Michigan Legislature a chance to get schools the money they need by Labor Day and to possibly avoid a government shutdown.
Bollin’s apparent optimism was dashed just hours later when Hall, on the House floor, told reporters that he too thought Bollin was optimistic, at best. Gongwer News Service, a Lansing-based legislative intelligence service and newsletter, reported that Hall was eyeing a Sept. 30 delivery date, which is the constitutional deadline to have a budget passed. The speaker told reporters that the longer time table was necessary because archconservative state Rep. Matt Maddock of Milford, who is the vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee, supposedly identified additional “waste, fraud and abuse” that needed to be addressed.
A message seeking comment from Bollin’s office was not returned at the time of publication.
In a regularly scheduled news conference held Wednesday by Brinks, which was planned to discuss the budget holdup, the Senate’s leader said Hall’s back and forth with his own appropriations chair was “truly unbelievable.”
“Imagine my incredulity when I read a press release from the House appropriations chair saying they are preparing to announce a budget plan and then her own speaker undercut her shortly thereafter and said he’ll need even more time,” Brinks said. “I will reiterate that the stakes could not be higher. While the new school year is already underway for many districts all over the state, schools still do not have the security of state funding to responsibly determine their own budgets.”
If uncertainty was the goal, Brinks said House Republicans were working to make that a reality for every school in Michigan.
Joining Brinks were other Senate Democrats including Sen. Jeremy Moss of Southfield, Sen. Sam Singh of East Lansing and Sen. Kevin Hertel of St. Clair Shores.
In a quip most timely, Moss said that even fans of Taylor Swift had more clarity on her latest release than those watching the budget process in Michigan.
“It’s been three or four months of them telling all of you that they’re dropping their budget next week,” Moss said. “Even Taylor Swift, when she says the album is dropping at 12:12 a.m., the album drops at 12:12 a.m. House Republicans don’t believe in the same philosophy.”
Communication breakdown: No end to budget impasse in sight as leaders spend day throwing jabs
Moss went on to detail the various Senate bills the chamber has sent over to the House this session, aside from the pending budget. Hall has refused to act on many of them, saying the bills were either unready or needed more work. Moss bristled at that assertion, and used his long-sought Freedom of Information Act reform legislation as an example.
The Legislature and the governor’s office are currently shielded from Michigan’s FOIA, and Moss and colleagues from across the aisle have endeavored to change that, multiple times. The legislation has yet to cross the finish line despite those attempts. The recurring work on the bills shows Moss that the FOIA legislation, in particular, was not unripe for the picking.
“I can tell you who benefits without this being in the law, officials who have something to hide,” Moss said. “These are perfectly written bills. They don’t even need to be fixed.”
Moss then read the names of all the Republicans who previously voted for FOIA reform, including Hall.
The bills were reintroduced this session and passed out of the Senate earlier this year nearly unanimously. They are now collecting dust in the House.
“Where the hell are these people?” Moss said. “So, you want bills passed? You want budgets passed? Half of this building is doing its damn job. It’s time for the House to come to the table and join us to work on behalf of the people of Michigan.”
Brinks’ solution to breaking the impasse was to remain engaged in the whole budget process and to continue putting the onus on Hall’s caucus to do their jobs.
“Our plan is to bring the best resources of our caucus and of the Senate as a whole to the table and to expect that, at some point, he has to reciprocate and join us there,” Brinks said. “We will continue to raise the pressure on him to do that, because the stakes are so high, particularly with this budget.”
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.
