Lawmakers protest lack of session, want open action
\nfrom Rep. Paul Opsommer
\n\u00a0
\nState Reps. Rick Jones, Paul Opsommer and Brian Calley stood with their Legislature colleagues at a Lansing news conference on Tuesday to protest the summer vacation legislative session calendar while the 2011 state budget hangs in the balance.
\nAfter taking the first two weeks of July off, the Michigan House of Representatives is scheduled for session only one day a week through the middle of August.
\n\u00a0\u201cHouse leadership should realize the importance of enacting a budget on time after the public outcry of past years\u2019 failings,\u201d said Jones, R-Grand Ledge.\u00a0 \u201cThe people of Michigan can\u2019t afford for the Legislature to wait until the last minute, or even days after the deadline, to set the state\u2019s spending course for the coming year. There\u2019s too much at stake that can\u2019t be fixed with one-time gimmicks or accounting tricks. It\u2019s time to make real changes that will reinvigorate the outlook for our state and its people.\u201d
\nThe Legislature has agreed on the school aid portion of the budget, but there remains a $1.4 billion structural deficit that has been smoothed over in previous years by federal stimulus funds and accounting changes.
\n\u201cThis is finally the year when Michigan government will be forced into the reality that it can\u2019t spend money it doesn\u2019t have,\u201d said Opsommer, R-DeWitt. \u201cThose decisions shouldn\u2019t be made with the clock ticking down in the middle of the night. We have two months before the next fiscal year begins, time that should be used for careful, earnest discussions to develop reforms that will serve the future of Michigan for generations to come.\u201d
\nCalley said Michigan residents and businesses rightfully expect the Legislature to simply get the budgeting job done on time.
\n\u201cIt boils down to the simple and old-fashioned concept of not putting off tomorrow what you can do today, that people in leadership shouldn\u2019t wait to the last minute to do things,\u201d said Calley, R-Portland. \u201cMichigan families don\u2019t put off important decisions to the last minute, and the Legislature should work in the same common-sense manner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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