So, what’s going on with the state budget?
Lawmakers had until October 1 to approve a spending plan or Michigan was facing a government shutdown. They didn’t approve a budget by the deadline, but there’s been no shutdown.
State Representative Joey Andrews tells us although a budget agreement has been reached, it’s not finalized and logistically couldn’t have gotten a vote in time. So, the Legislature did something else.
“After midnight, the Legislature passed what amounts to the Michigan version of a continuing resolution,” Andrews said. “So we basically, using last year’s budget formulations, funded one week of government expenditures across the board.”
This bumps the shutdown date back by seven days. Andrews is expecting a vote either Thursday or Friday on the actual budget. He still hasn’t seen all the details of the agreement reached between the House and Senate leadership, but says the cuts are far less severe that what was passed by the Republican House previously.
We wondered if programs including Jobs for Michigan’s Graduates and the Going PRO Talent Fund will still be eliminated.
“I don’t expect to see those programs cut at this moment, but I also don’t know for certain. So that’s on kind of my list of programs to check on when we finally have the document in front of us.”
Andrews says his understanding is the budget agreement takes what was initially about $5 billion in cuts in the GOP plan down to $400 million. He says it’s basically the same state budget as last year’s, but with some modifications. If that holds true, he says it’s an overall win.
