Tag: Senate

A recent CNS news interview reveals Stupak has been told to essentially shut up until the deal is done.

"They think I shouldn't be expressing my views on this bill until they get a chance to try to sell me the language," Stupak told CNSNews.com in an interview on Tuesday. "Well, I don't need anyone to sell me the language. I can read it. I've seen it. I've worked with it. I know what it says. I don't need to have a conference with the White House. I have the legislation in front of me here."

A 27 page report outlining cost and benefit of the Baucus plan (with NO public option)is now available. (click on the image below to download, and grab the closest barf bag.)

With Michigan's budget deficit ballooning to cartoonish proportions and tax revenue plummeting every time analysts dare peek, there's still a move afoot, championed in the liberal media, created by Congressional Democrats and carried out locally by Lansing Lefties (whoa! Alliteration!) to dramatically increase spending in the now and over the long term.

Yesterday in the Michigan Senate the Democrat Minority acted like children, stamped their feet and threw a proverbial hissy fit in an attempt to convince the Republican Majority to buy them something they knew the taxpayers couldn't afford.  Thank goodness the Republicans acted like the adults in the room and rejected the Faustian exchange.

At issue was $140 million in new federal "stimulus" cash targeted at increasing unemployment payments for everyone who has lost his or her job during six-plus years of the Granholm-Cherry economy.  And free money is always a good thing, except of course when it isn't free.

According to the Associated Press there's one whopping string attached to that cash.  Had the legislature accepted it we'd get that nice fat check to cover this year's rate spike but we'd specifically and intentionally be on the hook for the increased payments into perpetuity.  

That's the genius (and the sickness) of Congressional Democrats "stimulus" plan.  They are attempting to bribe state legislatures into making radical long term policy and spending changes with giant sums of short term cash.  It's a familiar scheme... I think it's what folks refer to as "selling your soul to the devil."

Amazing benefits now in exchange for an eternity of service to the dark lord.  

And just like Satan, if you turn down Democrats they're going to try to make your life a living hell.  

By blocking the Dems' attempt at woefully irresponsible spending Mike Bishop and the Senate Republicans expose themselves to the inevitable fiery slings and arrows of the campaign trail.  'They turned down free money,' the Dems will proclaim.  'They don't care about the unemployed,' they'll continue.  'Cruel and heartless,' the FREEP will inevitably opine.

Listen, it always stinks to say "no" and to admit we as a state can no longer afford to do every nice thing we might like but that's part of that whole "leadership" and "responsibility" thing.  And believe me... a little more pain now is better than a whole lot of perdition later.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've suddenly got Stryper on the brain...

I think the same principle translates pretty well to the legislature where our elected officials spend tax dollars on the items, people and programs they believe are important while holding back from items they view as less important.  

Too often these days, though, doing a little case study of Michigan electeds will leave a guy scratching his head, confused and disappointed.

Exhibit A: Democratic Attorney General candidate Gretchen Whitmer and her state Senate colleagues.

Several weeks ago Whitmer and the Senate Dems voted to approve the Granholm-Cherry executive order firing 100 state troopers, taking freshly trained and hired law enforcement officers off the streets and away from our neighborhoods.  The move, they told us, was the only way the state could possibly save $1.7 million.

Turns out that wasn't quite the whole truth.  This Tuesday Whitmer and team voted AGAINST cutting the legislature's budget by $2.5 million, a move that would have saved more taxpayer cash annually than the trooper cuts, further cutting into that nasty deficit.  Better to spend the cash themselves... on themselves... than on keeping cops on the street.

And as ugly and selfish a move as that was they topped themselves in session on Thursday.

We've been covering the Michigan State Police boondoggle literally for years. From Representative Arlan Meekhof's update earlier this week to our examination of the original appropriation back in June of 2007, we've been on top of the story.

By way of reminder, the Michigan State Police currently lease their headquarters in East Lansing for the grand total of $1 a year.  One dollar.  

The Michigan State Police do NOT want to move.  They've said so.  Explicitly.

So, obviously, the only thing for the Granholm-Cherry administration to do was to approve a $117 million plan to build a new MSP headquarters in downtown Lansing.  And just to sweeten the pot, they made sure that A) the new building wouldn't be large enough to house all of the MSP operations, necessitating additional facilities, B) made sure there was a massive yearly lease to replace that all-together-too-reasonable $1 rate and C) made sure Democrat sugar daddy Joel Ferguson, a long-time ultra high dollar donor to Democratic candidates and causes and a personal friend of Governor Granholm got the contract to do the development and rake in the taxpayer cash.

Attorney General Mike Cox this week informed the legislature that legally they could get out of the entire brain dead scheme if they simply pulled back the funding.  Yesterday the Senate voted to do just that.  

The GOP Majority amended the State Police budget, SB 253, to strip funding for the "triangle project."  Gretchen Whitmer and her Senate Dem colleagues then voted to protect their donor's payday by attempting to strip the amendment that killed the funding.  They opted to waste $117 million on a new building MSP doesn't want after firing 100 of the men and women for whom it was supposedly being built.

Thankfully their attempts failed and the GOP amendment stuck.

Meanwhile, Troopers across the state are expected in the next few days to vote to dramatically cut their own pay to save their fellow troopers' jobs. Their hearts are unquestionably in the right place.  In an amazing place.  

Only wish the same could be said of Gretchen Whitmer.

Given the opportunity yesterday to do just that, Whitmer joined fifteen of her Democratic colleagues and voted NO.  Worse than the simple fact that Whitmer and the Dems voted against right-sizing the legislature's budget is the fact that their vote came only a couple of weeks after they approved, en masse and on record, the Granholm-Cherry administration's decision to fire 100 state troopers.

The General Government appropriations bill, Senate Bill 245, was approved Tuesday on a Party line vote.  Each of the Republicans present and voting approved a $2.5 million annual cut to the Senate's budget while each of the Democrats voted against it.  

By way of comparison, it's worth noting that the EO firing 100 state troopers represented a total cut of $1.7 million.  In other words, the Democrats' Attorney General candidate and the rest of the big-government  Senate Left could have kept 100 law enforcement officers on the street protecting our neighborhoods, cut their own budgets and still saved taxpayers an additional $800,000 each year.

But that isn't what they did.  I mean, fighting crime, saving jobs and supporting law enforcement is important.  Apparently it just isn't as important as protecting the status quo when it comes to office allotments.  

Tells you a thing or two about Whitmer's priorities and her sincerity when she's on the stump... errr... making comments on the Senate floor.  And this is the woman who wants to be the state's top law enforcement official?

Few races will be as closely watched as the contest for Attorney General and we're bringing the candidates directly to you!

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop recently announced his candidacy for Attorney General and has been traveling the state making public appearances and speaking about his vision for the office and the state of Michigan.  

He is simultaneously heading Republican efforts in the legislature to deal with a rapidly growing state budget deficit with Democrats in the House, Senate and Governor's office arrayed against him.

This weekend I had a chance to catch up with Majority Leader Bishop to discuss the Attorney General's race, his candidacy and the budget crisis gripping Lansing.

What does he think about the current budget crisis?  Could we see another tax increase?  What will Senate Republicans propose THIS WEEK?  Does he have any regrets from the 2007 tax hike debacle?  What does he think about the Democrats likely AG nominee, state Senator Gretchen Whitmer?

Without further ado, here are the answers to these and many more questions...