LANSING — Today, House Democratic Leader Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) voted against the Michigan House of Representatives’ general and school omnibus budgets for fiscal year 2018-19. In response, state Leader Singh issued the following statement:
“The House budgets passed today come nowhere close to representing the values and priorities of the working people and families who make up our great state. Instead of a budget that repairs our deteriorating roads and bridges, this budget lets them fall into further disrepair. Instead of showing families devastated by the Flint water crisis that we stand behind them and will do right by them, this budget shirks our duty and leaves them behind. This budget does the same to the 40,000 people the state falsely accused of unemployment fraud, many of whom lost their homes and cars or filed for bankruptcy, when we had an opportunity in this budget to make them whole. This budget could have been used to build up our communities by increasing statutory revenue sharing so that communities could hire police and firefighters or create programs for seniors, but we haven’t done that. While there are some parts of this budget that are acceptable, from top to bottom, these budgets are simply not good enough. We can do better, and the people of Michigan deserve more, so I had to vote against them.”