LAST UPDATED: 3:20 a.m. Oct. 1
Michigan lawmakers adopted a continuation budget to end the state’s second shutdown in three years.
Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the 30-day budget early Thursday morning. The move ends temporary worker layoffs and office closures from a near two-hour state shutdown after lawmakers in Lansing could not agree on a budget by midnight, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The continuation budget will fund Michigan’s government and public schools. Lawmakers will use that time to agree upon whether to “cut spending, use federal stimulus money or raise taxes” in the permanent state budget that seeks to erase a $2.8-billion shortfall for the 2009-10 fiscal year, which started today.
Michigan Promise Grant scholarships for more than 90,000 college students seem “nearly certain” for cuts, according to the New York Times. But Granholm said in a prepared statement that she “has rejected Senate Republican cuts that eliminate college scholarships for over 50,000 Michigan students.”
According to the Free Press, lawmakers approved most of a permanent state budget that would offset the deficit “with no tax increases and substantial cuts in spending, from schools to Medicaid and mental health programs, aid to cities, environmental programs and government operations – including the Legislature.”
The state House and Senate scrambled to address the shortfall, which includes more than $1 billion in cuts, late Wednesday and early Thursday. A bill that would have reduced state aid by $218 per pupil to schools was shot down late Wednesday by a 2-106 vote.
The state Senate adjourned until 12:15 a.m. without sending an interim budget to Granholm, who notified around 51,000 state employees they would be temporarily laid off at 12:01 a.m. if no budget was set, the Free Press reported.
The Michigan Messenger reported the state House adjourned until noon Thursday after approving two budget bills, one of which “includes steep cuts in revenue sharing for cities and municipalities.”
While the state government is shut down, only state employees for essential services, such as prisons and public health, would be at work. The state experienced a four-hour government shutdown in 2007.
Keep checking cm-life.com for more details as they unfold.
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Brian Manzullo
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Shame on Senate Republicans for refusing to do their jobs.
This isn’t breaking news…. its something you should have covered days ago.
Scott, what are you talking about? The DEMOCRATIC House has two bills they cannot find the votes to send to the Senate. It is Oct 1. We deserve a balanced budget, no bandaid fixes.
Katie,
Not sure what you mean by “This isn’t breaking news,” considering the shutdown just happened less than two hours ago.
If by chance you meant the moments leading up to the deadline, a story did run early Wednesday morning: http://www.cm-life.com/2009/09/30/lawmakers-expect-to-meet-thursday-deadline/
Go ahead and raise taxes for bigger Government and entitlement programs…
Our Government will fail when enough of the constituency realizes they can vote in representatives that will implement entitlements for their supporters.
It’s a Ponzi scheme, and it can go on for only so long before it runs of of investors (tax payers).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme
I thought it was CM-Life policy for authors of stories to not comment in the comment section of the article on the Web site. I seem to remember a columnist last year who came under fire for doing so. Has the rule been lifted, or is this considered a blog post and not a story? Just wondering.
No this is clearly the Republican’s fault, because Bush doesn’t care about black people. Wait… that was something else.
Really the bottom line is that both Republicans and Democrats have known for most of the year that the current (now previous) budget was a massive failure and they would have to do something about it. They just decided to wait until the last minute because that’s what our government does.
I wanted to take a crack at Gov. I-hate-Michigan Granholm but in this case her ineptitude really only set the stage for another failure of the state government.
What if they were docked half their pay for not decideing the budget, would they not get it passed quickley. Mike
Mike,
You’re right, CM Life’s policy once barred everyone on staff from commenting on online stories.
But now, editors are allowed to participate in comments as long as the responses are constructive. Most of the time, we will use the privilege to clarify information, but we’ll also try to further the discussion with other points and topics.
It’s an effort by us to promote discussion on our site and on Facebook or Twitter. Let me know if you have any questions!
-Brian
Neither Granholm nor Obama is to blame for the GOP obstructing the right to a life in Michigan. The GOP had time to spend the weekend at THE ISLAND but not to do their jobs.
Please send me the rules for getting on the 2010 ballot a vote to make part-time legislatives bodies in the Michigan house and senate. Other states have it and do just fine. The GOP is in its election year mode. See how they like no food/no heat/no college help/no police officers/no real and equitable funding for K-12 schools/access to health care et al.
I pity the people of Michigan who already have nothing and face a Bishop and even worse candidates for governor in 2010.
Sheep have short memories.