Oct. 3, 2025 | This Week in Government: Better Late Than Never, Legislature Sleepwalks Across the Finish Line

The 2025-26 fiscal year budget was finally put to bed after midnight days after the official start of the fiscal year and months after a statutory deadline earlier this summer as legislative leaders worked mostly behind the scenes for much of the week.

Thursday’s session unfolded in the same way much of this week has, with lawmakers mostly waiting to take votes. At around 9:45 p.m. the House passed the general omnibus budget, HB 4706, but more action wasn’t taken until after 1 a.m.

Unfortunately, the invocation given in the Senate when the upper chamber gaveled back in after midnight on Friday – “Dear lord, please help us pass this budget; amen” – didn’t make a specific plea to a higher power for expediency. The Senate would eventually act on the budget bills a little after 1 a.m.

Although the Senate took action on HB 4706 and passed SB 166, the education omnibus budget, after 1 a.m., it didn’t take up the marijuana wholesale tax increase or the road funding bills until after 3 a.m.

When the amended road funding bills arrived in the House shortly after 4 a.m., carried by Senate Assistant Secretary Margaret O’Brian, the chamber erupted into applause. House members been waiting to take concurrence votes.

The snag which caught the Senate was approving budget implementation bills, particularly HB 4951, the 24% wholesale tax on marijuana. Around 2:30 a.m. House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, and Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, were both on the Senate floor whipping votes for the legislation. The Senate eventually passed the legislation as part of a long-term road funding plan (see separate story).

The House voted 101-8 on the general omnibus and 104-5 on the education budget. Both budgets cleared the Senate 31-5.

The bills are headed to the desk of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who remained mostly sequestered in her office between the House and Senate chambers throughout the night, periodically pulling groups of lawmakers in for meetings.

Whitmer thanked the legislative leaders and mentioned her signature campaign issue to “fix the damn roads,” is addressed through bills passed Thursday.

“I ran for office in large part because I wanted to fix the damn roads. Over the past seven years, we’ve made historic progress, fixing 24,500 lane miles and 1,900 bridges,” Whitmer said in a statement. “With this budget, we’re locking in a significant, bipartisan investment to fix state and local roads for decades to come, creating and protecting thousands of jobs in the process. I’m proud to deliver on my promise and look forward to driving on safer, smoother roads long after my time as governor.”

Farhat said that although the budget process was ugly, in the end, the Legislature got both the appropriations bills and their implementation bills across the finish line.

“What’s important is that we’re able to put aside partisan differences when we’re coming together in good faith,” he said. “There were many moments throughout this process it looked like … getting a budget that made sense for Michigan was out of reach, but I’m really proud that we were able to come together and get that done.”

Senate Democrats praised the spending proposals that moved through the Legislature Thursday. Details of both bills were revealed later Thursday before being unanimously adopted by conference committees.

“This budget shows that we can work together across party lines and deliver for the people of Michigan,” Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “This budget keeps people front and center by protecting health care access, investing in our schools, and making everyday life more affordable. It also proves that we can come together, even when it’s tough, to deliver a responsible, balanced plan that meets today’s needs and keeps our state moving forward.”

Hall said that much of the grind to get the budget across the finish line was due to negotiations over transparency on legislative earmarks.

“The reason the government shut down is because the Democrats didn’t want to do this,” he said. “We took it all the way up to the brink, and then they did it, and we’re going to make it a permanent law change.”

Passing transparency legislation will solve the problems the Legislature encountered in this year’s 10-month long budget process, Hall said.

“We’re going to disclose the pork spending,” he said. “Once…this stuff is disclosed earlier in the process, I think it’ll be a lot easier, because hopefully we won’t see as much opposition and obstruction to the transparency. That was the hardest part.”

Farhat, however, said the process was delayed because House Republicans didn’t introduce their budget proposal until the end of August.

“That is an issue when you’re trying to negotiate – not knowing the positions of the people on the other side of the table,” he said. “But when the moment it happened, we saw serious conversations ignited right away.”

Farhat said that the budget needed to be a less partisan process.

“We focus more on the issues that the working families and residents are asking us to focus on and less on political games,” he said. “I hope everyone has learned a couple very important lesson from this process and that we use those to prevent being where we are right now. Uncertainty isn’t good for Michigan.”

Hall said that the budget process showed that lawmakers should be having more conversations about what’s being spent rather than just what cuts to make.

“It’s just what are we cutting versus what was budgeted last year,” he said. “What I want to do next year is really dig into the actual spend numbers and make sure we’re cutting even deeper into those.”

The bill funding the state’s departments and agencies moved through the House easily around 9:45 p.m.

It includes $51.8 billion in gross funding for the state’s departments and agencies. Of that, $12.5 billion is General Fund.

It passed 101-8. Rep. Gregory Alexander, R; Carsonville; Rep. Timmy Beson, R-Bay City; Rep. Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers; Rep. Jim DeSana, R-Carleton; Rep. Phil Green, R-Watertown Township; Rep. Jaime Greene, R-Richmond; Rep. Brad Paquette, R-Niles; and Rep. Dylan Wegela, D-Garden City voted against the omnibus.

About four hours later and after passing several budget implementation bills from the Senate, the House passed SB 166, the bill authorizing funding for Michigan’s K-12 schools, community colleges, and higher education.

The bill passed 104-5. Carra, DeSana, Paquette, Wegela and Rep. Regina Weiss, D-Oak Park, voted no.

On the Senate side, Republicans Sen. Thomas Albert of Lowell, Sen. Joe Bellino of Monroe, Sen. Jonathan Lindsey of Coldwater, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Porter Township and Sen. Jim Runestad of White Lake voted no on both bills.

Hall said using School Aid Fund for community colleges and universities was important to sustaining higher education, though Democrats were uncomfortable with the shift.

“While we increase per pupil funding to a record high of $10,050, that number remains well below the national average of $17,700, and at the same time this budget shift hundreds of millions of dollars to higher ed dollars that could be allocated to do even more for our K-12 students,” Rep. Carol Glanville, D-Walker, said during a floor speech prior to the passage of SB 166.

The budget for universities relies on $850 million from the School Aid Fund, up from $461 million in the current year. Community colleges received $493 million from the School Aid Fund, which is in line with recent years.

Still, Glanville said the School Aid Fund budget provided funding for important priorities, such as universal school meals, the special education foundation allowance, increased funding for English language learners and transportation in rural districts.

“We’re giving our schools the flexibility they need at the local level to ensure that each individual child has the unique support they need to succeed,” she said. “We’ve landed on a student focused agreement that we can all be proud of.”

Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw Township touted the additional funding for school safety and mental health included in the School Aid Fund budget.

“These are real, tangible improvements for families,” he said during a floor speech.

Both chambers also passed several budget implementation bills during the marathon session.

Among them were HB 4180, HB 4181, HB 4182, and HB 4183, which make changes to the state’s fuel tax and redirect the funding to roads. The House concurred with the amendments made by the Senate early Friday morning.

The House passed bills modifying state fees and disbursement of funds including SB 579, SB 577, SB 574, and SB 578.

SB 579, the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, passed the House 104-5. Alexander, Carra, DeSana, Greene, and Paquette voted no.

SB 577, water fees, passed 103-6. Alexander, Carra, DeSana, Greene, Rep. Peter Herzberg, D-Westland, and Paquette voted no.

SB 574, tobacco settlement revenue, and SB 578, the Moveable Bridge Fund, passed 104-5. Alexander, Carra, DeSana, Greene and Paquette voted no.

The House also passed SB 273, which would amend yearly fees pesticide distributors and fertilizer manufacturers and distributors pay the state. It passed 107-2, Carra and DeSana voted no.

Finally, the House passed SB 565, which amends the Michigan Trust Fund Act to lapse money in the Local Government Reimbursement Fund at the end of the fiscal year back into the General Fund. It passed 102-7. Alexander, Carra, DeSana, Greene, Herzberg, and Rep. Veronica Paiz, D-Harper Woods; and Paquette voted no.

Lawmakers completed work early Friday morning on passing a slate of budget implementation bills that will set up a long-term state road funding plan, including the enactment of a controversial wholesale tax on cannabis products.

Senators voted 19-17 to pass HB 4951 which will enact a 24% wholesale tax on cannabis. The vote came after leadership spent much of Thursday and overnight into Friday morning working to round up the votes needed to get the key component of the road funding plan across the finish line.

The marijuana proposal drew sharp backlash from those in the cannabis industry, who showed up to the Capitol by the hundreds this week demanding lawmakers oppose the tax over concerns that it could upend the industry in Michigan and result in job losses.

Members also voted 22-14 for HB 49161, which will enable the state to “decouple” state and federal business taxes as well as HB 4968, which is an attempt to preserve some form of insurance provider tax.

Work on the road funding plan was completed with the passage of substitute versions of HB 4180, HB 4181, HB 4182, and HB 4183, which will implement a fuel tax swap.

Substitutes were adopted for HB 4180, HB 4181, HB 4182, and HB 4183 prior to final passage changing the start date for the gas tax swap to Jan. 1, 2026.

Exemptions for aviation fuel are removed under HB 4180 and HB 4182. Language providing a backfill for revenue lost to the School Aid Fund is included in HB 4180. All four bills were also tie-barred to SB 578, which deals with the Movable Bridge Fund.

The Senate voted 30-6 on HB 4180, 31-5 on HB 4181, and HB 4182, and 24-12 on HB 4183. The House later concurred in the Senate substitutes on all four bills, voting 102-7, 102-7, 101-8, and 98-11, respectively.

Three Republicans sided with the Democrats to pass HB 4961 and HB 4968: Sen. Mark Huizenga of Walker, Sen. Ed McBroom of Vulcan, and Sen. Michael Webber of Rochester Hills.

It was a bipartisan vote in support of HB 4951, with 15 Democrats being joined by four Republicans.

Democrats voting for HB 4951 were Sen. Sarah Anthony of Lansing; Sen. Rosemary Bayer of West Bloomfield; Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks of Grand Rapids; Sen. Darrin Camilleri of Trenton; Sen. Mary Cavangh of Redford Township; Sen. Stephanie Chang of Detroit; Sen. John Cherry of Flint; Sen. Erika Geiss of Taylor; Sen. Veronica Klinefelt of Eastpointe; Sen. Sean McCann of Kalamazoo; Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak; Sen. Jeremy Moss of Bloomfield Township; Sen. Dayna Polehanki of Livonia; Sen. Sam Singh of East Lansing and Sen. Paul Wojno of Warren.

Republicans supporting the bill were Sen. Kevin Daley of Lum, Sen. Dan Lauwers of Brockway, Sen. Ed McBroom of Vulcan and Sen. Roger Victory of Georgetown Township.

With this budget, Michigan will finally have a long-term road funding plan, House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, said.

“Republicans have been trying to do this sales tax swap since Jase Bolger, and we’re finally getting it done,” he said. “To dedicate all of the money collected at the pump to the roads, that’s a big deal. People understand that … that’s an important tax policy change.”

The 24% wholesale tax on marijuana was essential to the deal struck between the House, Senate, and the governor’s office for a budget deal and road funding, Hall said, and any of the heartburn the Senate had about voting for the increase was their own fault.

“Brinks provided options that she could do,” Hall said. “Democrats should have passed a roads plan, that would have made this a lot easier. By not doing that, they empowered Winnie Brinks to decide behind closed doors which revenue they could back. She put that on the table.”

Hall was unconcerned about the possibility of a legal challenge to the tax increase.

Cannabis was legalized in Michigan by a ballot proposal, and under Michigan law, a three-fourths majority is needed to amend an initiated act passed by voters. HB 4951, the bill implementing the tax and creating the Comprehensive Road Funding Tax Act, fell short of that margin by five votes.

“When Brinks and the governor put this on the table, they did a legal review, and they came to the conclusion that you could do it this way,” he said.

In addition to road funding, House Democrats also touted record funding for transit.

“We’ve heard that for a long time now, that we need to fix the damn roads, and we did a great job of our state lines and our trunk lines, but we’re finally going to see money going straight to our neighborhood roads,” Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, said.

Rep. Jason Morgan, D-Ann Arbor, said the funding included for transit in the budget was a major win for Democrats.

The Transportation Funding Package agreed to for the final budget provides money for state trunkline roads and bridges, makes changes to the distribution formula in Act 51 for cities, villages and counties, provides money for rail grade separation, and local bus operations.

“This is going to be the largest investment in public transit, probably in my lifetime,” Morgan said. “This budget will include about $160 million a year for public transportation throughout our state … this is going to be transformational for Michigan.”

The debate over HB 4951 was more divisive.

Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, called the cannabis tax a terrible idea that will drive people to the black market and derail the marijuana industry in Michigan.

“This Legislature is trying to do an end-run around the will of the people and massively increase the tax on cannabis,” Irwin said. “This is going to drive Michigan customers out of the legal market. This is telling customers from other states ‘stop bringing your money to Michigan.’”

He said voters wanted the revenue from marijuana taxes to go not just to roads but to schools and local communities, adding the bill cuts out schools and communities.

McBroom spoke in support of the bill, saying he has seen communities in his district that have been swamped with marijuana businesses and a rise in crime.

“Where are the benefits?” McBroom said. “We have an industry that is out of control. It’s too large and it’s failing to deliver to the promises they gave to us when they said they come to our state.”

McBroom said he believed the tax may “do some right-sizing” of the marijuana industry.

Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, R-Coldwater, was also opposed to the proposal. He pointed to the effect it could have on small businesses and workers in the industry.

“I can understand the arguments about the practicality of the state believes that it needs more money, so we’ve got to tax something, and this seems like an easy target,” Lindsey said, adding he was disappointed in hearing comments this week from people wanting to hurt the industry.

Lindsey said he believed the bill would not accomplish its purpose to raise significant revenue for road funding.

Irwin was also opposed to the fuel tax swap package, saying it is not revenue neutral for those who drive electric vehicles and hybrids, spiking fees for both.

The bills would increase the fee for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to increase from $30 to $80, and for electric vehicles from $60 to $160.

“There is a huge problem in this package of legislation for K-12 schools and for our local governments,” Irwin added.

Irwin said local governments have raised concerns about the possibility of losing constitutional revenue sharing and not receiving the full funding that is lost from the Legislature.

Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, said for years roughly $1 billion in revenue generated at the pump has gone to uses other than roads and that needs to end.

“It’s about time we take that promise to make sure every dime that hard-working taxpayers pay at the pump actually goes to fix our roads,” Nesbitt said.

Lawmakers unveiled the 2025-26 fiscal year budget and passed the proposal that balanced the House Republican priority that it include spending cuts and still provide key initiatives to keep the Democratic majority on board.

SB 166 and HB 4706 cleared both chambers on Thursday in votes that went into Friday morning after a protracted budget process that required a continuation spending bill to keep state government operating.

Boilerplate across the budget requires agencies to prioritize in-person work, but the Republican effort to prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives did not make the final version.

In total, the budget is about $75.9 billion with an additional $5 billion being held in contingency funds so not counted in the total. The General Fund is about $14 billion.

The education budget includes $24.12 billion ($1.56 billion General Fund) for K-12 schools, community colleges, and higher education.

“House Democrats have been clear from the beginning that our priorities in this budget were collective wins that would benefit all Michiganders, from students to patients to working families, and everyone in between,” House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri, D-Canton, said in a statement. “We delivered on those priorities tonight, and we’re going to keep delivering the wins that the people of this state need to thrive.”

The K-12 portion is $21.29 billion ($73.15 million General Fund), a 2.5% increase from the current year (7.2% General Fund). Per pupil funding will rise by 4.6% to $10.61 billion, or $10,050 per pupil.

Overall, the K-12 budget maintains the traditional structure outside of the per pupil grant with several categorical programs supplementing those funds for specific purposes. House Republicans had proposed rolling most of the funds together and boosting the per pupil grant much higher, though school districts opposed that concept.

“I’m proud that Senate Democrats held the line and worked across the aisle to successfully deliver another historic education budget that puts the real needs of students front and center,” Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said in a statement. “By securing the highest ever per-pupil funding, continuing the widely successful universal school meals program, and boosting literacy programs and at-risk funding, this bipartisan budget illustrates our unwavering commitment to Michigan students, educators, and schools.”

There are 25% increases for at-risk students and English language learners. There are 4.6% funding increases for intermediate school districts, career, and technical education and isolated districts.

Michigan Virtual University also gets a $1.8 million bump to $9.8 million.

The bill also includes a $100 million reduction in reimbursement to school districts for the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System.

Education groups, however, noted the budget passed after the start of their fiscal years on July 1.

“No lawmaker should be celebrating or expecting gratitude for a budget passed more than three months beyond their legal obligation to get it done and with zero transparency to allow it to be reviewed until shortly before it was passed,” K-12 Alliance of Michigan Executive Director Robert McCann said in a statement.

For community colleges, there’s an overall 6.8% increase. The budget contains a 3% increase – labeled one-time only – for college operations using the performance funding formula. The overall operational increase is 2.1%. That translates to increases ranging from 1.5% to 3.2% among the 28 colleges. The rest of the increase comes from MPSERS related costs.

Total community college funding would be $493 million, all from the School Aid Fund. That is in line with recent history of School Aid paying for some or all of the community colleges budget.

Higher education will see a 0.5% increase, with a gross total of $2.34 billion ($1.48 billion General Fund). All of the state’s public universities will see increases to their state operational funding, but Michigan State University and the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor flagship will see comparatively smaller increases of 2.1% each than their peers around the state.

The higher education budget relies on $850 million from the School Aid Fund, up from $461 million in the current year.

The large increases to some universities and large cuts to Michigan State University and the University of Michigan’s main campus in Ann Arbor that passed the House were scrapped.

A road funding proposal that included a marijuana tax increase and the removal of sales tax on fuel purchases was the key component to a nearly 16% increase in funding for the Department of Transportation.

Total fiscal year 2025-26 funding for MDOT will be $7.89 billion, an increase of 15.8% over the last fiscal year. Under the road funding package of $1.14 billion, counties will be allocated $456.7 million, cities and villages will see $246.1 million, and the remaining $179.7 million will be placed in the State Trunkline Fund.

Revenue sharing saw a $70 million pot for public safety for cities, villages, townships, and counties. Traditional revenue sharing was reduced or remained flat.

Constitutional revenue sharing under the new budget is set at $1.01 billion, a reduction of $63.6 million from the previous fiscal year.

Revenue sharing to cities, villages and townships would remain at the same levels as the previous fiscal year ($333.5 million), as would revenue sharing to counties ($291.1 million).

The conference also included $50 million in public safety revenue sharing grants and an additional $20 million in one-time grants for public safety.

House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, touted the cuts made the cuts made to the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, specifically around the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Strategic Outreach Attraction and Reserve Fund.

“We eliminated a lot of waste, fraud and abuse in the budget,” he said. “No new money for SOAR. … The wasteful grant programs, you saw cuts to the MEDC, and then what was important is we capped a lot of these one-time spends.”

LEO indeed faced some steep cuts, with a $690 million cut from the previous year. The budget topline stands at just over $1.7 billion for the coming fiscal year compared to last year’s $2.4 billion.

The incentives for business investment in the state received major cuts in the Business Attraction and Community Revitalization line item, with the conference calling for a $40.7 million reduction, removing all general fund funding, leaving the 21st Century Jobs Trust Fund with $59.3 million.

The Revitalization and Placemaking Program, which provided access for gap financing for infrastructure development and real estate rehabilitation, was removed in the sunset of the program’s funding source under a $50 million earmark from Corporate Income Tax revenue authorized first in 2022.

The Going Pro fund, used for employers to assist in training in the trades, also cut around $22.9 million of general fund dollars and shifted the remaining $22.3 million from ongoing to one-time. The House had originally called for removing all funds.

The budget also cut 53 of the 60 one-time programs from last year’s fiscal year, resulting in $633 million.

Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, said the Legislature should pivot its focus to economic development issues once the budget is wrapped up.

“I think that’s a very serious issue that we’ll look at later,” Farhat said.

The Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s budget shrinks by 6.9% to a total of $967.7 million ($170 million General Fund).

Major increases made were a $13.4 million one-time appropriation for lead service line removal and replacement and $34 million in one-time funding for grants and loans to support local government water infrastructure projects.

The conference also agreed to include a boilerplate item requiring EGLE to report the number of permit application appeals filed each fiscal year, as well as the number of applications approved within 30, 60, and 90 days, 6 months, and one year after an application is determined administratively complete.

The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources will see a 7% decrease, with a total of $145.8 million gross ($77.5 million General Fund) to be spent. Significant decreases contributing to that 7% include an $800,000 decrease to emergency management baseline funding with no change in FTEs and a $500,000 reduction to ongoing funding for emerging contaminates in food and agriculture, a smaller reduction than the $1.6 million initially proposed by House Republicans.

The Department of Education will see a slight cut with $164.7 million ($62.5 million General Fund), a $228,400 cut from current year ($1.4 million General Fund).

Among the changes in the conference report, the bill would eliminate the $100,000 for the state poet laureate.

The Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential will see a 2.8% increase. The $662.2 million ($201.6 million General Fund) is $18.2 million higher than last year ($65.1 million General Fund). Much of the increase is due to Child Development and Care caseload costs.

The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs also would see an increase with $290.2 million ($128.2 million General Fund), which is $14.3 million higher than last year ($10.5 million General Fund).

Key in the Military budget is the $26 million for infrastructure upgrades at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

The Department of Insurance and Financial Services will see $79.4 million, a $785,000 increase. The department receives no General Fund dollars.

The final budget does provide funding toward the statewide management system being developed by the state’s judiciary. In total, the state’s courts will see $383.6 million ($276 million General Fund), a 2.7% increase from this year.

The statewide management system will see $1.8 million ongoing and $2 million one-time with no additional full-time equivalent positions.

The Department of Attorney General is taking a 2.6% cut overall, losing around $3 million. The overall budget stands at over $126 million. The House’s proposal sported a 30% deduction. There is a significant swapping out of General Fund money in exchange for restricted funds.

The Department of Civil Rights is looking at a $28 million budget with a $723,800 deduction from last year. One major cut was $1.5 million in general funds for museum support across the state, but the department did see an increase in information technology demands with an increase in $767,800.

The Executive Office received an increase of $272,100 with a $9.6 million budget. The increase was in economic adjustments for negotiated salary and wage increases for employees.

The Legislature also saw an increase of $172,500 with an overall budget of $200.8 million. The jump came from legislature operations.

The Legislative Auditor General received an overall budget of $31.7 million with an increase of $468,600 in general operations money.

The Department of Corrections budget totals $2.16 billion ($2.12 billion General Fund). That represents a 0.8% increase from last year’s budget.

Michigan’s congressional Democrats said during a press call Wednesday that the ongoing federal government shutdown could end if health care costs are addressed.

This is the 15th federal government shutdown since 1981, but the federal government has not faced a shutdown in the past seven years.

After not being able to vote on a budget deal Tuesday night, the U.S. Senate Democrats also blocked a Republican proposal to keep the government at existing funding levels through late November. The bill did not hit the 60-vote threshold with only 55 affirmative votes.

In a press call with the delegation on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, said this is a “Republican shutdown,” and the holdouts are about making things affordable for their constituents, focusing on the health care.

The White House released a statement Wednesday calling it a “Democrat Shutdown,” calling the hold out from Democrats “unserious” and “shameful political gamesmanship.”

One of the major hold outs is for the health care tax credit that expires at the end of December, which could substantially increase health care costs, according to Dingell.

U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, D-Bay City, said that until there is some relief on premiums doubling and rising costs in general, she is “a solid no vote.”

McDonald Rivet said that she hears Republicans saying they want to restore the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act tax credits and want to put it on the floor.

“If they actually believe that, if they actually want that, put it on the floor and we open the government tomorrow,” she said.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, said the delegation always feels like they’re in the “emergency department,” having to triage when federal funding is threatened.

“We all know right now there is a health care crisis, and I think people don’t realize that we have to move with the urgency,” Tlaib said. “We don’t have time when folks try to push that deadline. But we know for weeks Trump has refused to negotiate on the issues around health care.”

Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, said one couple in her district making $82,000 a year would face a 200% increase in premium costs from $700 to $1,700, which she said is “untenable” with housing and food costs. But she said, with the federal budget bill, there can be $700 per day tax handouts to the top 1%.

Some of the criticism from Republicans on the health care negotiations is that Democrats want to give health care through Medicaid to those living in the country illegally. Dingell said this is strictly a diversion from real budget talks and Tlaib said they been unable to share evidence to support their claims.

When it comes to weighing the implications of the shutdown versus the decision to not vote on the budget, Dingell said they are talking to the government workers affected by this, and while it was not a decision they took lightly, the delegation goes home every weekend and hears issues of affordability and health care, needing ultimately to protect that over delaying a shutdown.

Looking at the budget crises across D.C. and their home state, Dingell said one of the overlaps between the budgets is looking to support WIC and other food programs that may not have large allocations in the state budget, wanting to find federal funding for the increased demand on programs that are seeing fewer resources.

Dingell said 42% of the state budget is made up of federal dollars, and they have close working relationships with the state legislators in their district, knowing that the cuts are all connected, federal decisions impacting what will be in the state budget, creating more uncertainty.

Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, directed the House’s chief administrative officer ahead of the shutdown that the House of Representatives withhold his pay if there was a lapse in appropriations.

“Members of Congress shouldn’t get paid while our federal employees and troops on the front lines go without,” Barrett said in a statement. “If Democrats shut down the government tonight, I’ll be withholding my pay until we get it back open for the American people. I voted with conviction to keep the government open. It’s time for Senate Democrats to put people before politics and do the same.”

The Michigan Strategic Fund Board approved projects Tuesday to bring an international automotive company’s regional headquarters to Wixom, provide millions for upgrades in water infrastructure and build housing development in Bay City.

Astemo Americas, Inc., a supplier of automotive systems, received a $2 million grant to bring a capital investment of $95 million to Wixom, combining their U.S. headquarters in Kentucky and technical center in Farmington Hills.

The company employs 320 employees in Michigan now, and this project would create 200 new jobs with more than 150 engineering and research and development positions, according to John Nunneley, senior vice president, design engineering and program management and general manager at Hitachi Astemo Americas.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited Astemo on her trip to Japan this past month. The project was announced by the company on Sept. 3 before approval.

Michelle Grinnell, chief communications and attraction officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, told reporters before the meeting that while it is not their “typical timeline” for projects, there is some flexibility when the governor has investment missions before the board has finalized the project.

“There are just these unique moments occasionally that come up where we want to take advantage of having Michigan leadership and company leadership in a room together in market to be able to talk about why we are working together and why these investments are coming to Michigan,” Grinnell said.

A deal with JR Automation, an automated manufacturing company, was also announced earlier this month with Hitachi before board approval at the Tuesday meeting. JR Automation will receive a $1.6 million grant for consolidation of West Michigan operations in Zeeland, which will lead to a $72.8 million investment with 150 new jobs.

The company had been considering consolidation in South Carolina instead but decided to land in Michigan due to its existing workforce and the incentive assistance, according to the project brief.

The company also received a local property tax abatement of around $9.5 million and a State Education Tax Abatement around $2.3 million.

“This project will unify three of the company’s existing facilities in Western Michigan into a single global headquarters facility in Zeeland with space for headquarters functions, manufacturing and enough room to grow and even double its footprint in the future, if needed,” Amanda Eisbrenner, business development advisor at the MEDC, said. “Moreover, the company views the project as a talent attraction and customer acquisition tool, as it plans to develop a world-class facility with a showroom for robots, AI, cobot demos and more.”

American Rheinmetall, a defense manufacturer with headquarters in Sterling Heights, was approved for a $7.52 million grant as well as an expansion with a relocation to Auburn Hills, consolidating other metro Detroit facilities as it upscales its engineering capability to sign more U.S. Department of Defense contracts.

This would also create 450 new jobs across four facilities including Lapeer, Lansing, and Plymouth with $31.75 million in capital investment. The positions would pay on average $25 to $56 an hour.

The company received a grant before for expanding its Sterling Heights facility in 2022 but changed course in its consolidation effort. The MEDC disbursed some $980,000 of the $1.5 million grant and are in good standing as of July 2025.

“This project helps position us as really, a true national leader in the defense sector and continues to help us diversify into new forms of advanced mobility, R&D, and engineering, which is what our greatest capability is here across the Detroit region,” Justin Robinson, senior vice president of business development at the Detroit Regional Partnership said. “Additionally, these high-paying jobs help us continue to retain that skilled workforce that’s here, right? Our core industry of automotive is going through transition. These defense sector jobs present very similar opportunities based on their skills to retain and attract those folks that are being laid off.”

Outside of the business, the board also approved nearly $22 million water infrastructure grant funding for 12 communities including Albion, Allegan, Benton Township, Big Rapids, Evart, Grayling, Hartford, Houghton, Ironwood, Olivet, village of Baraga, and the village of Hillman.

The funding can go toward projects such as sanitary and storm sewer lines, water lines, wastewater treatment plants, and related activities around treatment plants. Bay City will also see a new housing development with an economic assistance loan for Riverview Apartments on the north end of downtown. The building will include 90 housing units and two commercial storefronts.

Shellene Thurston, economic development marketing manager for Bay City, said these apartments will be transformative.

“Not only does this revitalize our downtown by creating walkable community, but also supports this attainable workforce housing, all of which are included in our local master plan, which has just been recently updated to include a significant emphasis on housing,” Thurston said. “This activates a key site in a gateway to the northern section of our downtown and turns contaminated property into a productive community asset.”

NextEra Energy Capital Holdings Inc. received a bond in an amount not exceeding $175 million for funding a renewable natural gas facility in New Boston to convert landfill gas into clean natural gas. Jay Frazier, senior attorney at NextEra Energy, said the company is established and is expected to make its returns.

Construction on the facility is set to begin in June 2026 and begin commercial operation in June 2027. Internally, the MEDC requested an extension of the memorandum of understanding for seeking reimbursement for administrative expenses. This year, the MEDC just requested the specification of responsibilities in administering the 21st Century Jobs Trust Fund initiative and other programs.

Usually, the MEDC requests allocation of funds for this, but did not this year because of budget uncertainty. Matthew Casby, chief board relations officer and MSF fund manager, said once there is a budget, the MEDC will request allocation.

Other approvals included an extension for the deadline for funds to Side Door Michigan, a venture capital investment fund, which has been approved twice in the past, and a state tax capture for Bay Valley Resort.

Whitmer championed the investments and housing development.

“Michigan’s economy is open for business and on the move,” Whitmer said in a statement. “We’re revitalizing our communities, investing in our workforce, and building affordable housing. I’ll continue going everywhere and competing with anyone to tell Michigan’s story and show more individuals, families, and businesses how they can ‘make it’ in Michigan. Let’s keep growing our economy, unleashing our innovators, and making our state the best place to live, work and play.”

MEDC Chief Executive Officer Quentin Messer Jr. said in a statement that the MSF was committed to “executing the state’s ‘Make it in Michigan’ economic development strategy.”

“We continue to be grateful to have the legislatively appropriated funds to provide solutions for Michigan’s most-pressing barriers to growth and prosperity so that our 10 million+ friends, families, and future neighbors will have more reasons to realize their employment, entrepreneurial and housing dreams here in Michigan,” Messer said.