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A budget is a moral document; it shows us what we value. The budget gives the state the ability to invest in our greatest resource — our people — and to ensure that everyone has the right to basic services and can access them with dignity. It allows us to provide food, health care and free public education for millions of Michiganders. It also allows us to put roofs over families’ heads, expand access to child care and create vibrant communities.
We like to think that everyone holds the same values as us, but we know that with 110 representatives, 38 senators, a governor, and countless other interested parties, how we reach our values may differ. And prioritizing funding in ways that provide for Michiganders’ essentials requires thoughtful negotiation, collaboration and compromise. We accept that.
But what we cannot accept is when these budgets are used as a gimmick or bargaining chip. Unfortunately, policymakers in Lansing have done just that.
Recently, with little notice and no public discussion, the House of Representatives passed a necessary book-closing spending bill. A book-closing spending bill, which is a budget bill passed to align spending authorizations from the prior budget year with what was actually expended, is a routine process regularly done following the close of the budget year on Sept. 30. It is typically a non-controversial move. However, policymakers tied it to a partial 2025-2026 budget proposal that largely provided basic per-pupil funding and support for public safety, revenue sharing for communities, and state debt payments only. Policymakers argued this budget would fund the “essentials” and prevent a possible government shutdown in light of what could be a fairly contentious budget negotiation process.We clearly have different definitions of “essentials.” The budget left out those items that people deem vital — health care, access to healthy foods and school meals, dollars to appropriately educate children who grow up in poverty, public health, senior services, and more.
This was not a serious plan. Closing the books on a year that ended nearly six months ago should not be predicated on passing an insufficient budget for a year that starts in six months. The word “shutdown” should not be part of our vocabulary at this time.
Instead, we should be focused on negotiating real investments in the real essentials — those things Michigan residents rely on day after day.
With policymakers in Washington proposing deep cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to pay for tax breaks for wealthy people and corporations, the League remains focused on what we can do to protect Michiganders from the expected harm. Medicaid helps 2.6 million Michiganders, including over 1 million children, get annual checkups, see the doctor when they are sick or hurt, and afford prescriptions. SNAP helps 1.4 million Michiganders afford groceries and put meals on their tables. And our partnership with the United States Department of Education, also currently under attack, helps us provide free and appropriate education for 1.4 million students, with specific supports for students with disabilities and those experiencing poverty.
While we may not be able to offset the impacts of all of these cuts, we can mitigate the harm through Michigan’s state budget. We can help eligible Michigan families enroll in and stay connected to Medicaid through continuous coverage policies, especially for young children, reducing churn and uncompensated care in hospital emergency rooms. Maintaining support for maternal and child health programs ensures that pregnant people receive the prenatal care they need and in the way they want to receive it, helping families start strong and stay healthy. Providing healthy school meals for all students ensures that kids at least have access to breakfast and lunch every weekday during the school year, and maintaining investments in Double Up Food Bucks and our food banks can help ensure families in need can afford healthy fruits and vegetables and other staples.
We can also go further — investing in affordable housing, providing relief for families facing evictions, allocating sufficient dollars so that all of our schools and child care facilities have safe, clean drinking water, closing gaps to accessing skilled trades or postsecondary degrees, and more.
When people wake up, their first thoughts are about getting their child up, fed and out the door to school. They are about scheduling doctor’s appointments and calling in prescription refills. They’re about making sure their mortgage or rent and utilities are paid on time. And like the decisions made around our own kitchen tables, decisions made in Lansing can have a significant impact on our ability to access the “essentials.”
Our state budget is not a gimmick, and we refuse to play games.
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