Detroit City Wire

State Senator Dan Lauwers has criticized the Democratic leadership in the Michigan Senate for what he describes as a lack of urgency in passing the state budget. On Tuesday, Lauwers and other Republican senators expressed concern over the legislative schedule and the absence of action on a balanced budget.

“Leadership only scheduled one day of voting this week, and it turned out not to be for passing a budget. This shameful disregard for one of the Legislature’s most important duties cannot go unnoticed — people are, and should be, angry about it,” said Lauwers, R-Brockway Township. “We need to get serious and pass a responsible budget that tackles road funding and ensures local governments and schools have the funding they rely on for the upcoming fiscal year.”

The current fiscal year ends September 30, with a new budget set to begin October 1. According to Lauwers, Democratic senators failed to collaborate with their House counterparts before the summer recess to complete a comprehensive spending plan. He also criticized them for not addressing unresolved budget matters during the summer months.

“Today was meant to be an emergency session to pass the budget, but all we did was pass bills that face no urgency and can be taken up anytime. This could, and should, have been done once our constitutional requirement of getting our books in order has been met,” Lauwers said. “We were in session for only 75 minutes today and not one vote was taken on budget-related items.

“The clock is ticking.”