No deal: Budget battle continues in Lansing after apparent agreement falls apart

LANSING, Mich. — More than a month after the state budget was signed into law, negotiations continue to take place between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican legislative leaders, extending supplemental spending conversations.

Thursday morning started with Whitmer saying she thought everyone was “very close” to being done with a supplemental budget. It comes after Whitmer vetoed an unprecedented amount of funding after the GOP-led legislature sent her a budget, which she had no input following a breakdown in negotiations.

The supplemental spending deals, which would spend some of the nearly $1 billion she vetoed, are combined with plans to rescind more than $600 million in departmental fund transfers Whitmer ordered using the rarely-used State Administrative Board. Both chambers in Lansing want Whitmer to sign bills that would limit the governor’s ability to use the Administrative Board in the future.

The talks seemingly came down to an apparent agreement to allow boilerplate language to move forward declaring that Whitmer would not use the State Administrative Board to transfer funds.

“We’ve articulated about five different ways that we will live up to the agreement that if we get a fully negotiated budget supplemental that whether it is a signing statement or observing boilerplate or it is standing here doing press together, whatever it takes to make sure that people understand that we are all going to abide by the terms,” Whitmer said Thursday morning.

The governor’s sentiments set the tone for what seemed like a deal. The plans came crashing down just a few hours later when Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said he wanted the deal enshrined in law.

“The Majority Leader was willing to accept the deal as long as it carried the weight of law. The Governor made promises of support to people and broke those promises,” said Amber McCann, Shirkey’s spokeswoman. “The Senate funded programs. The Governor cut those programs. She has proven a simple handshake agreement is not enough. It needs to be law.”

Shirkey’s line in the sand seemingly sent a message to the House, which quickly followed up with a statement from Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering.

Chatfield said the conversations with Shirkey and Whitmer were productive and “laid the foundation for future discussions.” Chatfield said everyone wants to see funding restored to the programs that saw funding cuts following Whitmer’s vetoes.

“We all want to see a permanent resolution to this issue that maintains a constitutional balance of powers and provides real assurances that his situation won’t come around again,” Chatfield said via statement. “We will continue to work together until we reach that point.”

Tiffany Brown, Whitmer’s spokeswoman, blamed the Republican Senate and said Thursday was the best opportunity to “fix the fundamental problems in the budget and protect public health and safety.”

“Which is why the governor and speaker worked so hard to negotiate a bipartisan agreement on a supplemental and transfer powers,” Brown said. “With so many people’s lives impacted by this budget, it’s disappointing that the Senate Republicans are unwilling to compromise and chose to adjourn without finishing their work.”

The House revised it's schedule Thursday afternoon. Instead of taking the rest of the month off, the House will reconvene Wednesday, Nov. 13. The Senate is scheduled to meet Tuesday, Nov. 12 and Wednesday, Nov. 13. Once adjourned next week, the Legislature won't be back until Dec. 3 - unless more schedule changes happen.

A special State Administrative Board meeting was scheduled Thursday morning, but was canceled right before it was slated to start at 9:30 a.m. Whitmer said she can call a special meeting of the board at any time to rescind some of the transfers, once a deal is made.

“We’ve kept our options open, I’m not going on a hunting break starting next week, I’ll be here so if we need to do an ad board meeting, we can always call one,” Whitmer said.

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