Granholm's Proposed Cuts
Republican-led budget committees may vote down Granholm's proposed cuts

By AMY F. BAILEY
Associated Press Writer

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposal to cut state spending by $227.1 million to help balance this year's budget appears to be in trouble.

A spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming said Monday the chamber's Appropriations Committee is leaning toward voting against the Democratic governor's budget-cutting executive order aimed at helping resolve this year's $376 million deficit.

"If I had to place a bet today, I would bet on it not going anywhere," Sikkema spokesman Ari Adler said.

State budget director Mary Lannoye presented Granholm's executive order to the House and Senate Appropriations committees last week when she laid out the governor's spending proposal for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. An executive order must be approved by both appropriations committees within 10 days to take effect.

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Granholm said Monday she is willing to negotiate with lawmakers on proposed spending cuts in the state's $8.8 billion general fund for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

"Let's start talking right now. We have an urgent situation. We need to resolve this year's budget hole," she said during a Monday interview with The Associated Press. "If you reject the executive order before you even begin to negotiate, I think that is fiscally irresponsible."

But Republican lawmakers said negotiations typically happen before an executive order goes to the appropriations committees to speed up the approval process.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Scott Hummel, R-DeWitt, said Monday he is not sure whether the 29-member panel will vote on the order at its Tuesday morning meeting. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon on the executive order.

"By not being part of the process, we just want to make sure that we're seeing everything in it that we need to see," he said. "I have had a couple of members say they cannot support it as it is."

He noted a proposed $30 million cut in this year's higher education budget for the 15 state universities intended to be offset by $100 million generated by a state bond sale for new buildings and maintenance projects at universities and community colleges.

The executive order also includes a number of funding shifts and cuts. It would save $10 million by holding first-time reimbursement checks to day care providers for two pay periods, or 28 days, said Greg Bird, spokesman for the state budget office.

The Department of Corrections would see its overall $1.79 billion budget drop by about $5.3 million under the executive order. The department would save money by keeping open vacant positions and using other sources of money instead of the general fund, Bird said.

Some Republican lawmakers also are concerned about the way Granholm split spending cuts between an executive order and a supplemental budget, which has to be approved by both the House and Senate, Adler and Hummel said.

"It's a longer and more complicated process," Adler said about a supplemental budget. "It's prone to amendments, which is an opportunity for turning it into a Christmas tree. Let's simplify the process by putting it all in an (executive order)."