“I voted no today on the House budget bills to fund our schools, colleges and universities and state government departments because these budgets are just not positioning Michigan for a global economy. By turning down federal Medicaid funding, we are hurting our hospitals and our small businesses. Because the leadership in this chamber lacks the political courage to take on the issue of health care, Michiganders will suffer.
This budget also hurts our students, and by doing that it hurts the future of our state. The budget we passed politicizes the Common Core educational standards that are supported by both educational and business groups across the state. In addition, the leadership in this chamber refused to put any additional money from the budget surplus into higher education. This is not a budget that does right by our residents, our students and our communities, and that is why I voted no.”