Communication breakdown: No end to budget impasse in sight as leaders spend day throwing jabs

BY BEN SOLIS, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

LANSING—As the clock ticks downward to the end of August, the stalemate between the Democratic-led Michigan Senate and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives over the state budget continued on Wednesday with no clearer timeline for when the two chambers might come to terms.

Instead of giving any real sense of when that impasse might end, the leaders of those respective chambers spent the day pointing fingers and answering lingering questions about the behind the scenes talks—or lack thereof—that might bring it to a close.

On Wednesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) held a planned news conference with other Senate Democratic leaders to again note their position that they were ready to negotiate and wanted get to work on a roads plan, but they could not because House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland) was refusing to show his cards on the full budget.

That led, in their view, to a communication breakdown in actually negotiating the few House budget ideas that have been reported over the last several months. Still, the House has yet to present its full budget outlook aside from its education plan passed in May, and that was a point of concern.

Later in the day, the Senate Appropriations Committee met to discuss the impacts of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget on Michigan’s economy and its own budget process—a drum the Democrats have been steadily beating since details of the bill emerged. The volume of that cadence has only increased since the bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump in July.

Senate Democrats have said they fashioned their budget in a way that contemplated the anticipated impact of Trump’s budget bill, with massive cuts to Medicaid and other key funding. Still, it was possible that new considerations might be made in the negotiating room given the dire circumstances brought on by the federal cuts.

The rallying cry for Senate Democrats on Wednesday was that Hall and his colleagues also now know what the federal budget will mean for the state, and that it was time for them to act with a full budget in tow.

At some point on Wednesday morning, Hall and his Republican colleagues decided to up the ante by announcing an impromptu press conference with the speaker in the afternoon, which included a surprise visit from state Rep. Ann Bollin (R-Brighton), chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

Hall’s main message was his belief that the Democrats were breaking under the weight of their initial opposition to work with the House on roads and that the impasse would soon be over based on pressure from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whom Hall has previously said was more in line with the House Republicans on the budget’s progress than Senate Democrats. But Whitmer last week undermined that narrative, telling Michigan Advance that it was pure posturing.

Despite the day’s verbal grenade throwing, the upshot remains the same: Six weeks have passed since the Legislature’s self-imposed July 1 budget deadline without a new deadline to get it done. Although both chambers readily agreed on Wednesday that schools need to know how they are going to be funded and that a government shutdown would be a loss for both sides, the war of words was far from over.

Brinks and company blast Hall for stalling negotiations—again

In the opening salvo of the day’s budget statement blitzkrieg, Brinks said Democrats in the Senate have done their jobs regarding the budget and that the ball remains in Hall’s court to get a full proposal to the table.

The majority leader said that despite all the political theater and Hall’s sabre rattling on roads, what he was putting at risk was the well-being of children and students across the state.

“Our kids deserve better,” Brinks said. “We have done our part. We’ve crafted a thorough, intentional education budget in a timely manner, without compromising on the priorities that matter most to our schools and to our students.”

The Republican education funding bill, Brinks added, would make deep cuts to areas like literacy supports and free school meals, creating uncertainty and an “impossible situation.”

Brinks laid all that blame at the feet of Hall, as did Democratic state Sen. Darrin Camilleri of Trenton, Sen. Dayna Polehanki of Livonia and Sen. Jeff Irwin of Ann Arbor.

Camilleri said it was mid-August with no budget and no answers for the people of Michigan.

“It’s pretty embarrassing that we’re in this situation,” Camilleri said, again blaming Hall. “If you act like this at any other job, your boss will put you on a performance improvement plan. But because he’s in a position of power and we are in politics, he thinks his obstruction and arrogance will be rewarded. We cannot let that happen. Matt Hall is losing respect daily in Lansing and across Michigan, and I urge him to get out of his own way for his own benefit, not ours.”

To that point, Camilleri said that Hall was standing in the way of his appropriations chairs and preventing them from having worthwhile discussions with their counterparts to get the budget moving along.

“Hall has tied the house’s hands, blocked us from reaching a compromise, has bottlenecked the entire process, and instead, here we are today without a budget,” Camilleri said.

Bollin says Hall is not standing in her way

Hall hardly took the bait and remained unfazed in his position that it was the Senate and House Democrats who have thrown schools and the state into perpetual worry, and mostly because he believed the opposing party was unable to get it together on a road funding plan.

Hall’s list of grievances were similar to those expressed in past news conferences, but said the stalemate would end tomorrow if Democrats just took the time to execute on roads.

He also said that it was not his intention to shut down the government, noting that the House’s supposed government shutdown prevention plan died without action from the Senate.

During the end of the press conference, Bollin walked in the door. It is unclear if her appearance was planned or if it was spurred by the comments from Brinks and other senators earlier in the day.

Either way, the move opened up Bollin to answer questions about whether she truly felt sidelined by Hall in the negotiation process. Bollin, of course, said she was not hindered in any way.

“We are in step with what we’re trying to accomplish with this budget,” Bollin said. “Our subcommittee chairs have had more autonomy and more input in this budget process than in years past. As far as my counterpart in the Senate, I do regularly communicate with Senator Anthony and also talk to the budget director. The speaker is talking on a different level with Senator Brinks, or attempting to, and the governor. We’re all trying to do our work.”

Bollin said people—primarily Democrats—may not like the House Republicans’ new process, and maybe don’t like their current timeline, but Bollin said the caucus’ budget was “going to be realistic.”

“It’s reestablishing priorities, and it’s going to be good value for the taxpayers,” Bollin said. “We’re able to fix the roads, we’re able to put forth sound education dollars without raising taxes, making sure with Medicaid, we have a lot to incorporate.”

Bollin also defended Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, saying the state will see positive results from that plan.

“I have no doubt that we can put forward a very, very good budget that is realistic and will not be leaving people behind,” Bollin said. “And I hope that the Senate can join us in that effort to get it done soon.”

A possible break in the line of demarcation: ticked off constituents 

For Brinks and her colleagues, the prospect of a government shutdown made them uneasy, but they said the continued pressure on Hall from outside groups was likely a means to break the border line between the two parties.

When asked if it was impossible to get a budget done by the end of August, Brinks said no, and she was hopeful that things would start to turn around.

On Hall’s insistence that the roads issue was holding everything up, Camilleri said it was a non-starter for his caucus to take billions of dollars from education and put it toward road funding, which he said appears to be the implication of the House’s education cuts.

The effects of Trump’s federal budget could also have an impact on breaking down the wall of stalled progress, as the leaders of the House and Senate have both said they were reexamining the budget outlook in light of federal budget cuts.

Members of the Senate Appropriation took the lead on that Wednesday.

During discussion of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, state Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), the committee’s chair, said that it was important for her to convene a group of experts to examine what it all means for Michigan as the budget waits in limbo.

A recent Citizens Research Council report said that the federal bill is projected to blow a $1 billion hole into Michigan’s budget, declining immediate revenues by at least $677 million or upward.

“While President Trump’s actions have made the job of serving Michigan’s people far more challenging – we’re not ones to give up when the going gets tough,” Anthony said in a statement following the meeting. “We’re re-examining the numbers and adjusting our budget to make sure we’re doing everything in our power to keep hardworking Michiganders from bearing the brunt of these dangerous federal cuts.” 

In Hall’s view, the will of Senate Democrats has already been broken, at least in his estimation, because they have begun to pass key House policy bills unrelated to the budget.

However, when pressed on the matter by several reporters, including one from the Advance, Hall could not say exactly how the passage of the chamber’s policy bills meant there was now a willingness in the Senate to start having meaningful talks about roads, or the larger budget. He again rested on his belief that Whitmer would corral them into the negotiating room, particularly on the road funding issue.

No matter what happens over the next few weeks, business and school associations appear to have had quite enough.

In a statement that was geared toward the impacts of the federal budget bill and the Senate’s discussion on Wednesday afternoon, Robert McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan, said the state’s budget breakdown would make those consequences worse, noting that the state’s schools relied on more than $170 million in Medicaid funding last year to deliver “vital” services to students.

“Unfortunately, Lansing lawmakers are only compounding that damage by refusing to pass a budget that gives our schools even the most basic of funding security for the new school year, even as they reopen their doors to students in the coming days and weeks,” McCann said

Additional pressure came from a coalition of four Michigan business groups, who in a letter sent to Anthony and Bollin on Wednesday, pleaded with the Legislature to not keep funding education programs that help growth, keep students in the talent pipeline and move young people into the much-needed tech jobs of the future.

Leaders from the Detroit Regional Chamber, the Small Business Association of Michigan, TalentFirst and the Michigan Manufacturing Association signed the letter, which noted that education priorities should not become a footnote in the ongoing clash over the budget.

“Michigan still ranks around 33rd in educational attainment, which now leads to a ranking of 39th in income. There is no longer any such thing as a prosperous state that is not also highly educated,” the letter said. “In light of that reality, our concern is growing as Michigan continues to rank toward the bottom of the nation in many key educational metrics.”

Among the talking points in the letter were requests to continue Michigan’s goal of reaching 60% statewide educational attainment by 2030; support efforts to improve a culture valuing education in the state; refocus efforts on improving third-grade reading and math scores; and to expand incentives for dual enrollment and apprenticeship programs.

“To put it in stark terms, when it comes to educational outcomes, Michigan is in dire straits,” the letter said. “Without a significant long-term educational investment and strategy that transcends election results, our state, businesses, and students will continue to fall further behind.”

READ MORE: Why is nothing getting done in Lansing?

This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.