House Democrats today criticized the Republican-led State Senate for a party-line vote that gives businesses significant tax cuts at the expense of funding for education, health care and public safety, and blasts a huge hole in the budget that was passed less than one month ago.
"The Republican-led Senate broke its promise to the people of Michigan that our state would have fully funded schools, health care for seniors, and police and fire protection for our communities," said House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.). "It ignores the reality that Michigan will be in dire straits again in just a few years if this plan goes into effect. The Senate Republicans' plan is a short-term fix that will have long-term repercussions for the people of Michigan. It shows a complete lack of foresight and planning."
The House Dems release points out that they passed a replacement plan that was supported by both the Detroit and Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, and the Michigan Manufacturing Association as well.
Wait. It gets better. Just like I mentioned earlier today, the Senate also created a problem for the future. Speaker Dillon didn't like that one bit, no siree.
"Senate Republicans have set the state of Michigan up to fall into a giant black hole in 2011, when they won't be around to deal with the consequences," Dillon said. "This shows irresponsible and cowardly leadership. It also shows that Senate Republicans are willing steal from our residents and from Michigan's future to score points with a handful of businesses today. They should be ashamed of what they did today."
Think Andy might be a little ticked off?
This never flies in the House, obviously, and from MIRS we get this-
The bill seems to set up another bare-knuckle brawl between the Senate and the House and Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM's administration. The Governor has said she wanted bill that's bipartisan, revenue-neutral and permanent - and the Senate version meets none of those criteria.
Mike Bishop said in MIRS, "Senate Republicans are not obstructionists". Um, yes they are. By passing this bill, they are proving that they have no intention of solving this problem anytime soon, the problem they created in the first place.
Mad props to the Speaker for calling them out on it. That's what we like to see!