Rep. Alicia St. Germaine objected again this week to the Michigan state budget, which became law today upon receiving its signature from Governor Gretchen Whitmer.  

“This massive budget means one thing: tax hikes,” St. Germaine said. “All this money has to come from somewhere. Democrats have decided it should come from you. And yet we still aren’t investing needed resources in our local roads or our local police and emergency teams. In fact, there’s not a single extra dollar distributed for local road repairs in this entire massive budget. Michigan should thank Democrats and this budget for every pothole they hit — and every new dollar they pay in taxes.” 

St. Germaine also pointed out that the budget underfunds or entirely neglects key priorities for Michiganders like roads, public safety, and education.

“This is the largest and most wasteful budget Michigan has ever passed,” St. Germaine said. “I could almost forgive the excess if the money was helping people. But we had the chance to invest over $2 billion directly into classrooms this year and Democrats in majority instead diverted it away to create more government programs and bankroll pork projects. That was almost $1,400 for every student in Michigan. Democrats also blocked a Republican plan to invest $1 billion in local roads in every community, and they rejected an investment in police officer recruitment. Now our surplus resources are totally gone.”

Rep. St. Germaine stated her three largest problems with the budget that was signed are:

• $2 billion of spending on new programs into the school budget, which was signed earlier this month.
  • If Democrats had instead invested that $2 billion in Michigan classrooms to help kids learn, the budget would provide an additional $1,360 for every Michigan student. This would amount to $10,968 per pupil, but Democrats opted for wasteful spending over students.
• The budget distributes no extra funding for local roads throughout the state.
  • Despite Republican calls for a $1 billion investment in local roads, Democrats only spent on state highways and a few favored projects for political allies. By contrast, Democrats handed out more than $1 billion to their political friends and allies for solar farms, zoos, opera houses, and more.
• The budget also fails to invest in local police departments that need to fill officer vacancies.
  • Democrats rejected Republican amendments to provide $100 million in grants to help local police departments and county sheriff’s offices recruit and retain officers and obtain equipment. Instead, they spent more than $100 million on “community enhancement grants” to help their friends fund pork projects like pools, theaters, and a cricket field.

Rep. St. Germaine and her office can be reached at [email protected] or (517) 373-0555.