Whitmer's bold budget attempts to repair consequences of disinvestment

(Detroit Free Press editorial) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has unveiled her proposed budget, and all the Republicans who control Michigan's state Legislature can seem to talk about is how big it is.

"All I gotta say is: Damn!." marveled Senate Appropriations Chair Jim Stamas, R-Midland, who noted that Whitmer's $74.1 billion spending plan, the largest in state history, is about half-again as large as the budget in 2009, the year he took office.

Stamas' counterpart on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, was equally dismissive. "Now we know what the governor would do if she won the lottery," he said. "She’d go on a spending spree."

But Republican state lawmakers have been trying to cut their way to prosperity for more than a decade, with little to show for it. Indeed, it's hard to imagine living anywhere in Michigan and remaining oblivious to the myriad problems pressing down on our state. A combination of higher than expected tax revenues and one-time federal aid has given our state an opportunity to reverse its destructive path of disinvestment, and the governor's determination to exploit it is neither unreasonable nor irresponsible. ...............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/editorials/2022/02/10/whitmer-michigan-budget-republicans/6724405001/