“The irresponsibility... cannot be overstated.” Budget negotiations go down to the wire in Lansing.

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We are barreling toward the July 1st deadline (or “deadline” – in quotes since at this point can we really consider it a true deadline?) to have a budget deal wrapped up. But it’s not nearly wrapped up and there is something close to a zero chance that it’s going to be wrapped up on that timeline.

Why?

The Legislature is divided between a Republican-led House and a Senate controlled by Democrats and it all still has to go to Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer to sign. The deadline-pushing is a power play engineered by House Speaker Matt Hall and the GOP majority in an effort to win some major concessions.

There are, in fact, no real consequences for the Legislature for missing the deadline except maybe some embarrassment and a ding on the list of factors that protect the state’s AA+ credit rating. The House Speaker suggesting that July 1st isn’t really a deadline, as he did recently, hints that maybe he’s not feeling the HEAT on that one. (Matt Hall will certainly get our little joke here, playing on his favorite acronym.)

But school districts, community colleges, public universities and some local governments will certainly feel it since their fiscal years begin on July 1st. Well, maybe not all of them are feeling it. The 11 public universities that are not the University of Michigan or Michigan State University might not mind so much. That’s because they would be the beneficiaries of funding cuts to UM and MSU that would be redirected their way under the House GOP plan. (A little divide and conquer here maybe?) But their fiscal pictures also remain murky while these concepts remain, well, conceptual.

House Republicans are also selling their K-12 proposal as an increase to the per-pupil foundation allowance to schools by eliminating “categorical” spending that redirects funds for special needs such as at-risk pupils, English-language learners, mental health and special education. That money would basically be lumped together in the per-pupil foundation allowance for each school district.

The House is now weeks behind the Senate, which has adopted its spending bills.

While the budget brinksmanship drama plays out in the House, Rick called Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) to get some perspective from her side of the Capitol. He asked how she views Hall’s deadline-pressing and her frustrations with the process.

Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks: A couple of observations. One is that, this idea that the House can pass a K-12 budget by the end of June, and then for him to represent that as him getting his job done is just completely irresponsible. It's clear to everybody who knows anything about the state budget that it is not something that is made by one person or one chamber. By its very nature, [the budget] must be negotiated by the House and the Senate and the governor. The irresponsibility of having one chamber wait until the last minute cannot be overstated.

And we have clearly been a very responsible actor as the Senate has passed its budget on a responsible timeline. And at the end of the day, this is very Trump-like behavior to cause a crisis and then to come in at the last second with some sort of half measure and pretend that they're being heroic and that it's somebody else's fault that this doesn't get done. When in fact … with the budget not being done and being as slowed down as it is … lies completely with the House Republicans.

Rick Pluta: What would you like to see happen?

WB: [Hall] needs to get into the room and negotiate. Not just the School Aid budget, but the General Fund budget. And in that process, we can see if there's enough common ground on road funding. We can have a conversation about the unknowns about the rest of the year and how we would like to handle it. And we could do that in the next couple of weeks. At this point, he's staring down a deadline that can't be met because he hasn't done the work that's required to even do the negotiation stage. So we're really in a bad position. And his words this past week really indicate that he's looking to blame someone else instead of take responsibility. And it's just a huge disservice to the people of our state who expect and deserve a responsible budget passed on time.

RP: When's the last time that you, the speaker, and the governor have all been in the same room to talk about the budget?

WB: We had a meeting last week where we talked about a couple of things. This is certainly one of our primary topics. And just yesterday, I had a one-on-one meeting with Matt Hall, and you know, I thought that we had a pretty productive conversation. But hearing some of his comments after the fact and in the press conference he did before our meeting, I do have some concerns about the timing that he is suggesting for the budget.

RP: What else should we know?

WB: You know, as we stare down the state budget deadline at the end of June, I think it's important for the people of Michigan to understand that education funding is incredibly important for school districts to know and to know before school starts. There's also interaction between the General Fund and the School Aid budget. So it's really important for us to talk about both the General Fund and the School Aid budget together. And if we're going to contemplate a road funding solution, it would be incredibly helpful to talk about the entirety of the state budget alongside that. And I believe that's really the only way that we will be successful in passing a responsible budget and coming to a solution on road funding.

RP: Are you expecting some late nights this coming week, before the July 1st deadline?

WB: We are always prepared for late nights and you know, the last week before a break, it seems to be that that's how the Legislature works. When I became leader, I had this hope that we would be able to avoid those. And for the most part, we have.

As Brinks said, budget season (regardless of best intentions) almost always ends with all-nighters at the Capitol. Send us your late night snack ideas and tips for grabbing quick naps to help us through it! We’re always at politics@michiganpublic.org.

What we’re talking about at the dinner table

Not over til it’s over: The first six weeks of this year’s legislative session were taken up with negotiations over reforming the state’s minimum wage and sick time leave laws. Within hours of the looming mid-February deadline, lawmakers in Lansing came to a bipartisan agreement. A deal was done. The issue was settled. Well… maybe not. “A years-long fight over Michigan’s minimum wage law may not be over yet, thanks to a new referendum effort. If successful, the referendum would repeal bipartisan compromise legislation,” Michigan Public Radio Network’s Colin Jackson reports. The executive director of the group behind the referendum, One Fair Wage, tells Jackson that her group is looking to gather signatures to overturn the new minimum wage law this summer. Some 223,000 signatures from voters would be needed to put the referendum on the 2026 ballot.

7th entry: Republican Tom Barrett, who won Michigan’s open 7th Congressional District last November, is seeing a new potential Democratic challenger in 2026. “Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, who resigned her post under President Donald Trump, said Wednesday that she is running as a Democrat for the U.S. House in Michigan, her home state. Brinks, 55, recently moved to Lansing after 28 years as a diplomat whose career spanned five administrations, including the last three in the war zone of Ukraine,” The Detroit News reports. The announcement is already getting national attention. As Peter Baker writes in The New York Times, Brinks is running “in one of the most competitive House districts in the country, for a Lansing-based seat that was held by Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, before her election to the Senate last year. It is now held by Tom Barrett, a Republican who won with 50 percent of the vote in November. Other Democrats also have their eye on the race, which will likely attract tens of millions of dollars in next year’s midterm elections.” The Cook Political report continues to rate the 7th CD as one of the country’s true toss-ups.

MEDC: The already embattled Michigan Economic Development Corporation was the target of a law enforcement raid led by the Michigan Attorney General’s office this week. The Detroit Free Press reports a search warrant was also executed at the Farmington Hills home of “a major MEDC grant recipient.” The Attorney General’s office has been investigating a $20 million grant to the not-for-profit corporation Global Link International and its president, Fay Beydoun, who’s accused of some pretty profligate spending ($4,500 coffee maker, expensive travel, etc.) of public funds. The MEDC had already cancelled the balance of the grant and is seeking the return of money it has already paid out. The GOP-led Michigan House Oversight Committee has also opened an inquiry. This will undoubtedly be messy and embarrassing for Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who appointed Beydoun to serve on the MEDC board and to the many Democrats who have been beneficiaries of her campaign donations.

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Yours in political nerdiness,

Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark

Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics

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IJP ON THE ROAD

Looking for more details on the K-12 and higher education budget showdown, Zoe joined WKAR’s Off the Record this week to discuss the School Aid budget deadline.