© 2024 WEMU
Serving Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, MI
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Long-Term 'Roads Solution' Could Be Worked Out Separate From Michigan Budget

Roads
Ken Lund
/
flickr.com

Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s plan to fix the state’s roads in a single budget is getting pushback.  The head of the Republicans in the Senate has his own ideas for how to handle a new roads policy.

Senator Mike Shirkey says he wants more money for roads in the state budget. But he also says that long-term plans for a “roads solution” should be handled independent of the state budget.

“Our plan for budget will for certain include additional funding for roads that’ll be historical. But there’s no guarantee that it’ll be a roads solution. Maybe they’ll come together, but it’s not a requirement.”

Meanwhile, Governor Gretchen Whitmer says she won’t sign a budget that only has a temporary plan for the roads or that doesn’t raise more than $2 billion.  That promise could be tested in early June when Shirkey says he hopes the Legislaturewill have its budget ready for Whitmer to sign or veto. 

Non-commercial, fact based reporting is made possible by your financial support.  Make your donation to WEMU todayto keep your community NPR station thriving.

Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

—Cheyna Roth is a reporter for the Michigan Public Radio network.  Contact WEMU News at734.487.3363 or email us at studio@wemu.org

Before becoming the newest Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Cheyna Roth was an attorney. She spent her days fighting it out in court as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Ionia County. Eventually, Cheyna took her investigative and interview skills and moved on to journalism. She got her masters at Michigan State University and was a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer before finding her home with NPR. Very soon after joining MPRN, Cheyna started covering the 2016 presidential election, chasing after Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and all their surrogates as they duked it out for Michigan. Cheyna also focuses on the Legislature and criminal justice issues for MPRN. Cheyna is obsessively curious, a passionate storyteller, and an occasional backpacker. Follow her on Twitter at @Cheyna_R
Related Content