Mike Bishop, today on the Senate floor-
"The Senate Republicans have come up with a proposal and we're happy to share it with you and have an open dialog about it."
If that were true, wouldn't Minority Leader Mark Schauer know about it?
Again, the Majority Leader talks about this proposal; that we've seen this proposal. I guess, I'm not sure if the word "proposal" is the same for "plan," but I guess the proposal is what you're talking about in solving this current year-the 2007 budget crisis. I haven't seen the proposal. Our appointee to this six-member workgroup hasn't seen the proposal. It's sort of this secret plan that is still out there.
What appears to be happening here is that rumors are leaking to both MIRS and Gongwer on the details of this proposal that Bishop is "happy to share", but yet no one has seen.
Bishop went on to claim that this "is not about politics right now", right before he pulled a very calculated political move.
Even though Republicans largely have come out against Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed 2 percent tax on services, they set it up for a possible Senate vote next week.
Majority Leader Mike Bishop decided Thursday to discharge the measure and bring it to the full Senate because he felt Democrats broke an agreement to keep details of negotiations secret until an agreement has been reached.
Already he is passing the buck on responsibility for his actions, blaming the Dems for forcing him to do this. Do you think he will stop there?
The Rochester Republican said he's bringing up the tax plan in the GOP-controlled Senate _ where it's almost sure to fail _ because the House has failed to act even though Democrats hold the majority there.
"You've got the governor's office and you've got an entire chamber of this Legislature and nothing has been done to move that plan forward," he said. "Why? Because you don't have the votes."
And if that happens and it doesn't make it out of the House, the spin will then become, "Democrats don't support the tax plan, therefore we have to make these cuts".
The responsibility for these nasty cuts can be placed right in the hands of the Democrats at that point. The Republicans will get a pass because the Dems didn't support getting the revenue.
See how that works?
Schauer had a few details for us on these cuts. Or rumors of cuts. Or whatever the hell is going on.
Minority Leader Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, said Republicans say they want to make up the entire shortfall with cuts, but won't say publicly what those spending decreases are. He heard Republicans may propose cutting the payments that communities get from the state for police, fire and other services by 20 percent, as well as cutting payments to K-12 schools.
Ouch. No one will want to be responsible for that.
"It could have devastating impacts on our communities," he said. "I don't think they've got the votes for it. ... That's why they've not been willing to put their plan on the table."
Both sides are claiming "you don't have the votes" at this point.
If that is the case, Dillon should instruct the House to go ahead and pass this. Bishop told Rick Albin "that tax has been dead for awhile in this chamber". Well, then the House has nothing to lose, right? Make the Senate be the body that obstructs progress. Put it all right back on Bishop. Make no mistake, he is playing "politics" here, better find the guts to play back, or you are going to get obstructed from here on out.
Force the Republicans to put these cuts on the table before you end up getting blamed for them.
UPDATE 3-16: Cropsey quoted MIRS as saying that an agreement had been reached. This is being reported on WOOD this morning as rumor, but the message being sent to the public is that there was an agreement on cuts.
The fact is, if you do go to the MIRS article today, on the very front page it says this, about the third paragraph from the bottom: "On another front, word from the negotiations between the Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop and House Speaker Andy Dillon suggested they do have a plan to reduce the $850 million deficit with about $700 million in budget service cuts and the rest with accounting changes."
Sounds like a Republican plant. They can then turn around and say, "We had an agreement. The Governor insists on raising taxes". At least, Cropsey will. (Stop laughing Eric)
Wait and see.
All we can do is speculate since nothing concrete is being released to the public. Happy Sunshine Week to us all.