State Rep. Greg Alexander today said his priorities to help workers and families in Michigan’s Thumb region has not changed, despite vague initiatives from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer disclosed in a recent address.

Whitmer delivered her “Road Ahead” speech in Detroit on Wednesday, discussing the need to protect jobs, fix roads and work with Michigan’s trading partners.

But Alexander said plans that address these issues are things House Republicans have actively been working on and that he would like to see a bipartisan appetite for in the new legislative term to get them across the finish line.

“House Republicans have sponsored bills that will keep small businesses open and their workers from being laid off after an extremely short-sighted Michigan Supreme Court ruling last summer put livelihoods at risk,” Alexander said. “There is also a recently introduced plan that will provide over $3 billion annually to fund road repairs and invest in water and sewer infrastructure without raising taxes. These are priorities we hear about as legislators from people we represent every single day, but they have unfortunately been put aside in favor of other things the last two years. We need to get to work to deliver solutions to pressing issues that matter to people the most.”

Alexander also took issue with the governor saying the state needed to raise additional revenue to pay for expenditures.

“There is plenty of money in the current budget to fix our roads and not raise taxes,” Alexander said. “But budgeting is about priorities, and Democrats regularly prioritized other things while draining a massive, $9 billion surplus in the process. The governor has handed billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded incentives and future tax breaks to companies, including ones that had ties to the Chinese Communist Party, with promises of jobs that regularly underdeliver and amount to failed economic strategies.

“Lansing’s agenda needs to be more in touch with what people in our state want to see – good roads, safe communities and commonsense policies that respect their dollars, lives and livelihoods.”