The stalemate over road funding continues in the Michigan Legislature. Jake Neher has the details.
The state Senate was expected to pass a road funding plan on Tuesday that had already been approved by the state House. But it adjourned after about eight hours of talks without a vote.
“Sometimes you make a run at the goal and you don’t quite get there so you back up and you try a different angle,” said state Senate Majority Leader ArlanMeekhof (R-West Olive). “And we’re going to try some different angles with our leadership team.” Meekhof says he’s still hopeful a deal can be reached. “I think there’s an avenue, I’m just not sure what it is yet with the group that we have in front of us in the House and the Senate.”
Even after the House plan’s failure in the Senate on Tuesday, state House Speaker Kevin Cotter (R-Mt. Pleasant) says he’s hopeful lawmakers can reach a compromise this week. “I think it would be a shame to get this close because I think there’s going to be credit for nothing if it’s not a signed solution. So we have to get it across the line,” said Cotter.
Many Republicans in the Senate say the House’s $1.2 billion plan relies too heavily on raising vehicle registration fees to boost road funding. Meekhof says he’d prefer to take up a plan that could be passed with mostly Republican votes in the House and Senate. He says he has no timeline for trying again to hold a vote on a bill.
Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
— Jake Neher is the State Capitol Reporter for the Michigan Public Radio network. Contact WEMU News at734.487.3363 or email us at studio@wemu.org
