Senate Minority Leader Blames Senate GOP For Latest Budget Issue

We are more than a month into the current fiscal year, and there are plenty of state programs facing funding issues and charter schools that don’t have the money they were promised. It’s due to the line item vetoes – nearly $1 billion worth – by Governor Whitmer and moving some of the funding around in an attempt to restart negotiations with legislative leaders after the budget was passed without her input. Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich of Flint says a deal had been reached between the governor, Democrats in the House and Senate, and Republican House Speaker Lee Chatfield and the bills were ready to be passed on Thursday. That’s when Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey rejected that compromise.

“Right now, the Senate Republicans are choosing politics over solving the problems, and it’s disappointing,” said Ananich. “I have strong friendship, and will have a strong friendship, with Mike (Shirkey), we’ve worked together on a lot of things. But this is a side of Republicans I’ve not seen in a long time.”

Ananich said the blame for funding issues now shifts from Whitmer to Senate Republicans.

“The majority leader seems to be more focused on stripping powers from the governor that every governor has had since 1920 instead of solving these problems.”

He made his comments on Michigan’s Big Show with Michael Patrick Shiels.