Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing). July 1, 2025 | Photo by Kyle Davidson/ Michigan Advance
Hopes for a potential budget deal were dashed this week as the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate opted not to hold session on Tuesday, with no real target deadline in sight.
The Michigan Legislature failed to reach a budget deal by its self-imposed July 1 deadline, and both chambers have pointed fingers at one another as to why that couldn’t happen.
For the state Senate’s part, the chamber passed a full budget funding the government, as well as its K-12 and higher education budgets, in May, teeing up the House to do the same. However, the Senate has not issued a full funding plan for fixing Michigan roads.
The House, with some buy-in from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, released its roads plan and passed a K-12 budget, but has yet to pass a full budget. Members of the lower chamber have said they were waiting on the federal budget to pass and be signed by President Donald Trump in order to know the full effect on the state budget.
Still, both chambers had the opportunity to meet the July 1 deadline but did not, with the Senate packing it up early on July 1 and the House going late into the evening. The House ended the night without netting enough bipartisan support to pass amendments to the Senate’s education budget.
Since then, House Republicans blamed their Senate Democratic colleagues for not being serious about road funding, while the Democrats in the upper chamber said the same about their brethren in the House on the full budget.
In an interview with Michigan Advance on Friday, state Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that although the federal budget has passed, the House has still not been communicative about its plans to fund the rest of state government.
“They have thrown out very, very expensive tax proposals. Income tax relief, an over $100 million Public Safety Trust Fund proposal, very expensive proposals. But yet, you’ve got to show the whole picture,” Anthony said. “It has been frustrating to wait while they contemplate this federal budget. Well, you know what? Now we’re here. We are now at a place where the clock is ticking and it’s time for us to start having real conversations.”
As to the holes created by the federal government’s tax and spending cut plan, which was signed into law by Trump on July 4, Anthony said 40% of the state’s budget comes from federal funding, including Michigan’s Medicaid program, which provides one in four Michigan residents with vital health care.
Approximately 1.5 million people in Michigan rely on SNAP food assistance benefits, Anthony added, and those two components in the federal budget combined would set Michigan up for a $2 billion deficit.
“It is critical for us to look at this year’s budget in a way that we’ve never looked at any budget before in recent history because of the impact on social services,” Anthony said. “Things that provide food and health care to people. … Budgets are moral documents, and so, if we’re looking at this moment as a way to invest in children and senior citizens and our low income families, and what they need to survive, our budget would in no way be able to fill every single gap that this federal bill has created in our state.”
With what precious resources Michigan has, Anthony said her priority is to try and safeguard families from those cuts to the highest degree possible.
One of the biggest frustrations with her House counterparts, thus far, is the fact that the Senate can’t negotiate against a House budget bill that doesn’t exist on paper.
“I can’t punch at air,” Anthony said. “We can’t dissect invisible numbers and start to look at proposals, not based on a political lens, but through a practical lens. You can tell me about big expensive concepts that your caucus wants to contemplate, but if the balance sheet doesn’t add up, well, we can’t even start working on those pieces.”
In contrast, Anthony said the Senate passed what it considered a fiscally responsible and balanced budget, which included things like universal school meals and community college guarantees, and grant programs for small businesses and farmers so they have some relief from Trump’s tariff moves.
“We put it all on the table,” Anthony said. “We take the criticism and the praise, but we built a budget … contemplating what we assumed would be the impact of some of these pretty dangerous federal cuts. The most frustrating part about this year has been not having a willing and serious partner in the House Republicans.”
Several attempts were made by Michigan Advance to speak with state Rep. Ann Bollin (R-Brighton), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, but were unsuccessful.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) and House Appropriations Commitee Chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton Twp.) on Feb. 5, 2025. | Kyle Davidson
The situation may seem like one of the unintended consequences of divided government, but Anthony said the state has seen divided government before.
“This isn’t anything new,” Anthony said. “We need more reasonable actors at the table.”
As for the proposals she’s found common ground with her House colleagues, Anthony said prioritizing disaster relief was one area of agreement. She said the Senate budget includes emergency reserves for local infrastructure in order to prepare for and respond to local disasters. The House made similar moves related to the dangerous ice storms that occurred earlier this year.
Anthony said those areas are not partisan, and that the impact of climate change on Michigan was clear.
“It’s only going to get worse,” she said. “So that seems like an area of alignment, that if we came together, we could find real relief for local governments and for residents.”
Although it may be expensive, Anthony said public safety was also an area of agreement. She said the two chambers’ proposals look a little different, with the Senate opting for a CARES fund, which would add money for community violence prevention and law enforcement, but also first-responders like emergency medical services and firefighters.
School accountability was also top of mind for both chambers, Anthony said.
“It’s one of the things that not only the House and Senate, but also the administration, are starting to look at [with] ways that we can embed smarter proposals in the way we fund schools,” Anthony said. “It’s not just about pouring money in, it’s about making sure that you’re getting a return on investment and prioritizing those dollars. … I think there’s plenty that we can actually do together.”
That said, a new target date for a deal is yet to be determined. Although some have said that late August could be a reasonable target, Anthony said conversations were still ongoing and that the plane remained up in the air.
“We haven’t set a specific date, but I think that, at least from my perspective, we want to get something done before school starts,” Anthony said. “That is a very reasonable way for us to provide the certainty for our schools that they really respect and deserve.”