The state Senate is expected to vote this week to extend tax credits for a plan to turn a shuttered Ford plant in Wixom into a green technology center.
The Republican-controlled Senate agrees with the Democratic House that the deal is a good use of tax credits. But the House turned down a Senate bill last week that called for more transparency with the Michigan Economic Development Corportation.
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The House would like to extend tax credits for the MEDC so the group can continue to bring new jobs into the state through the rest of the year. Cassis says the Senate won't pass anymore credit extensions that do not include increased oversight.
If this is true, the Senate Republicans are officially obstructing job creation in this state. According to the governor, over 60 projects were in the MEDC pipeline - and Cassis is going to send them to other states who will be happy to get their business.
14 years this program has been in place, and with an unemployment rate of 15% during the deepest recession of our lifetime - the Republicans are choosing now to make a non-issue an "issue". In the Warped World of Cassis, the delusion is that the public will demand this so-called "transparency" (remember that business doesn't receive the tax credits unless they can prove job creation) - when what the public really wants is JOBS. It's highly doubtful they give a rip about what kind of tax credits a business receives at this point.
Will the Democrats pick up this stick and use it? Or will they just sit there and let Republicans turn down new jobs, only to then turn around and blame the Democrats for the economy? When a company chooses, let's say, Georgia, to take advantage of their tax credits (but you can pick a state, any state), are the Republicans going to loudly complain that Michigan can't compete? You bet they will. You just know it.
What's it going to take for Democrats to start to fight back against the "job-killing" Senate Republicans?