LANSING – The effort to
win approval of new funding for roads ran into the same old problem Wednesday
in the House saw negotiations fall apart with no solution in sight.
Without an agreement to
bring aboard a large number of minority Democrats, majority House Republicans
tried in vain to build up enough support within their 63-member caucus for a
plan that would find $1.2 billion in new funding for roads through $600 million
in new revenue and taking away $600 million from other programs and putting it
toward roads instead.
With 55 votes needed for
approval, there was too big a gap to bridge through an agreement with the
Detroit Caucus and trying to cut side deals with other Democrats. And by
midday, Rep. Brian Banks (D-Harper Woods), the chair of the Detroit Caucus,
signaled that Detroit legislators were looking for more than just legislation
helping the city collect all income tax revenues owed.
Further, a source
knowledgeable with the situation saidGovernor Rick Snydermade it clear in
closed-door talks with Republican legislative leaders Tuesday night that he
opposes the House Republican plan that emerged last week to much fanfare that
relies on the 600/600 split to come up with $1.2 billion. House Democrats have
made it clear the $600 million in reductions is too much, and Mr. Snyder is in
agreement on that point.
Snyder press secretary
Sara Wurfel, of the talk that Mr. Snyder had issued a veto threat against $600
million in cuts, said, “He certainly has raised that we need to be
incredibly careful and thoughtful about how that level of revenue is
found.”
