RELEASE: A truly Conservative Budget

We have all seen the ads showcasing falling debris from old bridges and a how this is a huge safety emergency; proclaiming that the bridges are falling, if so why are we spending more on welfare and entitlements and education and less and less on roads? This is the spot in our state's history where the rubber meets the pothole filled road!  

While families have been counting pennies and cutting back, we have a proposal put in front of them that would take $2 billion more from them EVERY YEAR! 

For years Michigan families and businesses have been tightening their belts and it is now time that government did so too!  We have the opportunity to lead by example and show that we can live within our means and within our budget and still fulfill our Constitutional duty to maintain our roads. 

Funding our roads in this current budget year and within this current budget is not only necessary for the safety of our citizens but we believe is the responsible step to take by our government. We are offering a series of amendments that would do just that, including a 10% across the board cut from each general fund line item. 

A 10% cut across the board combined with some targeted cuts will put nearly a billion dollars towards roads this year so that we can get started on fixing them while the legislature works on a long-term road package. 

We cannot in good conscience sit on the sidelines and cut the transportation budget while simultaneously asking Michiganders to pay more in taxes for the roads. 

Instead, we must do the hard work of responsible fiscal governing and freeze the budgets of entitlements and programs or tighten our government belt and decrease general fund spending by 10% in order to provide the much needed funding to our roads. 

With awareness of the great responsibility entrusted to us by taxpayers, we have taken an intentional approach to put forward some amendments to cut wasteful programs and increased spending from our state’s general fund, with the ultimate goal of putting more money towards roads without raising taxes. 

Our amendments will cut the corresponding amount from the below programs. An additional amendment will cut further 10% from other general fund expenditures. Combined, these amendments will free up roughly $1 billion dollars from the budget. The Lansing establishment says we cannot fix our roads without raising taxes. These amendments prove otherwise, and protect the taxpayers of Michigan. 

The amendments are as follows: 

-Individual amendments for each of the following: 

Department of Agriculture:

• Migrant Labor Housing Cut $1,049,700
• Horse Race Programs Cut $1,000,000 

Department of Community Health

• Base Medicaid Cut $19, 430,000
• Community Mental Health non-Medicaid Cut $10,000,000
• Reinstate Public Health and Wellness Reductions Cut $3,000,000
• Healthy Kids Dental Service - New Program Cut $7,500,000 

Dept. of Education 

• Child Development and Care (CDC) Cut $$6,5888,800
• State Aid to Libraries Cut $1,000,000
• Renaissance Zone Reimbursement to Libraries Cut $600,000 

General Government 

• Legislature Operations Cut $3,815,700 

Department of Technology, Management, and Budget

• State Building Authority Cut $17,800,000
• Capital Outlay Cut $10,000,000
• Information Technology Investment Fund Cut $7,500,000
• Motor Vehicle Fleet Cut $6,515,500
• Legal Services New Cut $1,000,500
• Homeland Security/Cyber Security Cut $1,000,000
• Procurement Improvement Plan Cut $479,100  

Department of Treasury

• Business Attraction and Community Revitalization Cut $99,000,000
• Entrepreneurship EcoSystem Cut $7,800,000 

Department of Human Services

• Healthy MI Plan Call Center Cut $1,446,900 

Department of Natural Resources

• Shooting Range Enhancements Cut $250,000 

Department of Transportation 

• Transit Capital and Rail Infrastructure Cut $15,000,000 

-An amendment to cut general fund spending across the board by 10%