Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, speaks with reporters Wednesday about House Republican’s Legislative efforts. (Kyle Davidson/Michigan Advance)

With less than two months remaining until the end of the fiscal year and no budget deal in sight, Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall said Senate Democrats should take another look at their budget proposal after the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at the federal level.

Since May’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Committee found the state had $320 million less than initially projected, Hall, R-Richland Township, has criticized the Senate’s budget, arguing it was based on outdated information.

Without considering the updated revenue estimates and the impact from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Hall argued the Senate’s budget proposal is no longer serviceable, encouraging the chamber’s Democratic leadership to write another budget based on the state’s current financial situation.

While the GOP-led House has yet to put forth a proposal of its own on general government funding, the chamber approved an education budget in mid-June. Hall previously told reporters his goal was to negotiate an education budget by July 1 and that taxpayers would be better served if the Legislature worked toward a Sept. 30 deadline for the remaining budget items.

However the Legislature failed to negotiate any budget by its legally required deadline, giving the body until the end of September to avert a government shutdown with a new fiscal year set to begin on Oct. 1.

In crafting the House budget, Hall told reporters he’d instructed budget leadership and appropriations subcommittee chairs to revise their budgets based on the revenue projections from the May estimating conference and the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency’s brief on the financial impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“I’m getting those recommendations from them very shortly, and then you’ll see us bring those out and move a budget very quickly,” Hall said.

However, he declined to provide a deadline.

“I’m not going to tell you that, but I’m just saying we’re going to have a budget very soon,” Hall said, later emphasizing that House Republicans will be doing everything they can to pass a budget by Sept. 30.

As part of that process, Hall said they were interviewing candidates to replace state Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, as the minority vice chair of the House Appropriations committee. Farhat was ousted after Republicans failed to gather enough votes to move forward on the House’s version of legislation to ban cell phones in schools as well as an overhaul to life-without-parole sentencing guidelines for 19- and 20-year-olds.

While there is a lot of interest in appointing Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, there are other Democrats interested and interviewing, Hall said, declining to offer the names of other potential candidates.

Whitsett has long been a problem for House Democrats, most recently for her refusal to attend the final days of last year’s lame duck session. Combined with Republicans’ walking out of the chamber, that decision deprived Democratic leaders with a quorum and forced a frustrating end of session with several legislative priorities left unpassed. She also announced that she would not caucus with Democrats with the GOP back in charge of the House.

Additionally, Whitsett is in her final House term, having decided to run for Detroit City Council, polling enough votes in Tuesday’s primary to advance to the November General Election.

Hall said there were a number of parallel discussions on the budget between himself, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, but he once again called for Democrats to empower the governor to negotiate for them.

“The Republicans are unified, and we can put forward one budget position. And I think the Democrats would be best served to iron out their differences, empower Governor Whitmer to lead you, and we’ll get a budget done very fast,” Hall said.

A Brinks spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri, D-Canton, called on Hall to resume House Session, as no session days were scheduled for this week.

“House Republicans’ continued inaction on the budget is unacceptable. Every day another news story comes out highlighting how difficult it is for the average Michigander to get by in Trump’s America,” Puri said. “If his caucus is going to demonstrate the slightest bit of concern for the Michigan workers, families and kids, who will suffer if we don’t pass a budget, Hall must immediately resume negotiations. Every day of Republican inaction brings us closer to government shutdown.”

State Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, noted that the lack of an education budget had forced some public schools to discontinue programs offering free meals to all students, due to the lack of certainty on funds they will receive from the state.

“With federal policies causing costs to continue to rise and a growing atmosphere of uncertainty in state and federal policies, you’d think the Republican party would be doing everything in its power to ensure no Michigan child goes without access to food. Yet House Republicans are still in no hurry to pass a realistic education budget as public schools are being forced to end the successful universal free breakfast and lunch program that has ensured access to healthy meals for millions of Michigan students.” Polehanki said in a statement, accusing Republicans of playing political games rather than working on a budget.

———

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For more, go to https://michiganadvance.com.