LANSING, Mich., Sept. 3, 2025 — Last week, state Rep. Brenda Carter (D-Pontiac) stood up for House District 53, and most of all Pontiac families, by rejecting the House Republican budget that makes huge cuts to what Michiganders rely on.
“This budget failed the people I represent,” Carter said. “It eliminates the expansion of the offender success program for probationers, which includes employment training and services, and additional higher education opportunities for incarcerated individuals. Additionally, it puts food assistance programs that struggling households depend on at risk and destabilizes immigrant families. Those cuts fall hardest on Pontiac, where families are already working twice as hard to overcome decades of underinvestment.”
Carter noted that the budget mirrors the harmful legacy of the Trump administration’s deployment of federal law enforcement to 19 majority Black and Brown cities, including Detroit.
“Pontiac families should not be punished twice — first by federal over-policing, and now by a state budget that cuts the very supports families need to thrive,” Carter said. “True safety and prosperity come from investment in education, jobs, housing and reentry programs, not from disinvestment and control.”
Carter reaffirmed her commitment to fighting for a budget that reflects the needs of HD 53: “I voted no because this budget failed House District 53, and especially Pontiac families. I will continue to push for a people-first budget that lifts families out of poverty instead of locking them into it.”
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