Detroit City Wire

State Senator Dan Lauwers expressed dissatisfaction with the process leading up to the approval of Michigan’s fiscal year 2026 budget, but described the final outcome as a positive step for taxpayers. In a statement released Friday, Lauwers criticized legislative leadership for not prioritizing timely completion of the state budget.

“Current leadership wasted countless hours on untimely legislation instead of completing our constitutional duty to finish a state budget on time,” said Lauwers.

He noted that despite missing the deadline after months of delays, Republican lawmakers in both chambers worked to reduce what he called wasteful spending. According to Lauwers, this resulted in a budget that is smaller than last year’s and includes several tax cuts.

“While the deadline has come and gone after months of wasted time by the current Senate majority, my Republican colleagues in the House and Senate fought to reel in wasteful spending — and the end result was a final budget that, for the first time in years, came in less than the previous fiscal year. We cut spending, eliminated taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security income, and forced legislative spending requests to be public to let taxpayers know who requested the funding and where it is being spent,” he stated.

Lauwers emphasized that families and small businesses must manage their finances without additional resources at will, suggesting government should do likewise. He advocated for reduced reliance on taxpayer funds and highlighted priorities such as education funding, road improvements, statewide priorities over local projects, and increased transparency.

“Every single family in this state has to live on a budget. Working families and small businesses don’t have a magic button they can press for more money, and the state Legislature shouldn’t either. We cannot continue looking to taxpayers as an ever-growing revenue source, and it’s about time we cut spending to live within our means and focus on what matters most: strong support for our schools, focusing on statewide priorities instead of pork projects, a meaningful increase in road funding, and creating a more transparent budget process,” said Lauwers.

He concluded by acknowledging the lengthy negotiations required but expressed satisfaction with reaching an agreement focused on taxpayer interests.

“This was a long, overdue vote that took months of hard work and negotiating, but I’m glad we were able to reach an agreement that finally puts taxpayers first.”