(Lansing, MI – AP) – Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Republican legislative leaders have agreed to enact a state budget without including a long-term funding plan to fix deteriorating roads. The trio said Monday they talked over the weekend and will immediately work to set spending targets to get the budget passed by October 1, avoiding a partial government shutdown.
They say they agreed to continue talking about road funding “in a meaningful way” but to table associated issues “for the time being.”
Whitmer, who campaigned on a pledge to “fix the damn roads,” had said she would not sign a budget without a “real fix” to significantly boost spending on roads and public education. But she and Republicans were struggling to find a consensus after her proposed 45¢ per gallon fuel tax hike went nowhere.
