Sen. George offers comment on budget resolution
Thursday, October 01, 2009
LANSING--The Michigan Senate passed a continuation budget early Thursday morning after a marathon two-day session.
Senate Appropriations Committee member Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, offered the following statement on the budget proceedings:
“In June, in the face of Michigan’s continuing revenue declines, I voted for a state budget that was balanced through the adoption of widespread cuts and spending reductions. Though difficult, that vote was necessary and reflected the realities of the day.
“For the last several weeks I have worked with my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to create budget bills based on the agreement reached by the Senate majority leader and the speaker of the House.
“These measures passed the Legislature Wednesday morning. The bills balance the budget without raising taxes and include spending and revenue targets similar to those established in the Senate’s June budget proposal.
“In response to requests from the Kalamazoo community that I represent, I worked to successfully preserve funding for preschool education and the Kalamazoo-area Nurse-Family partnership program.
“Today I also voted for, and the Legislature adopted, a one-month continuation budget based on the revenue and spending targets established in the Senate’s June budget proposal.
“There is concern that the recommended spending reductions may cause potential hardships. The alternatives, however—a government shutdown or raising taxes on working people—were not practicable, so in my judgment the cuts were necessary.
“I look forward in the coming months to continuing to work with my legislative colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make state government more efficient through programmatic reforms.”
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