LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan’s budget season is heating up — and so is the political rhetoric surrounding it.
After weeks of working independently, Senate Democrats are speaking out against a House Republican resolution urging the Senate to withdraw its recently passed budget bills. The resolution comes as lawmakers face pressure to finalize a budget before the typical deadline in June.
Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the resolution a distraction from the House’s own inaction.
“I’m not rattled very often, but when it comes time to do the job, I expect all of us to start doing the job,” Anthony said. “The fact that they took time to draft a resolution directing us to do our job in a world in which they have not presented anything besides a stopgap measure months before a budget shutdown is on anyone’s radar is ridiculous.”
The Senate’s budget is based on January revenue estimates and would result in a nearly $1 billion shortfall in the state’s general fund. Rep. Angela Rigas (R-Caledonia) sharply criticized the Senate’s proposal during a floor speech Tuesday.
“This budget is woke, reckless, unconstitutional, and the Senate Democrats have completely gone off the rails,” Rigas said. “Thank God the Republicans are here to put an end to this.”
Revenue projections released in May show lower-than-expected growth, prompting the resolution to revise budget targets. But Senate Democrats say this is business as usual — and that a full budget process, including negotiations and updated figures, can’t begin until the House introduces its own proposal.
“Every year, the process is the same,” said Rep. Regina Weiss (D-Oak Park). “You draft a budget based on the January numbers. Then you zero out the other chambers’ budget, which we could just do. We could just vote to zero out the Senate budget because we do it every year.”
So far, the House has not introduced a full budget, and Senate leaders say that’s holding up negotiations. Weiss said the exact numbers in the Senate budget won’t matter in the end. Typically, after zeroing out the budget, lawmakers meet to negotiate the final numbers using the latest revenue estimates, but that process can’t begin until the House introduces its own budget plan. Anthony said she continues to work with her House counterpart to reach a workable compromise.
“They’re working to get us something we can start negotiating,” Anthony said. “That’s the work we should be doing — not political stunts like this.”
House Republicans, meanwhile, say they are reviewing every line item in the original budget proposal from the Governor and are focused on cutting what they see as wasteful spending. The conflict has renewed concerns about a potential government shutdown. Leaders in the House have said they are willing to work on the budget until September to get things right.