Latest news with #RanjeevPuri
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrat House leader sounds off on GOP speaker Matt Hall
The Brief GOP Speaker of the House Matt Hall is facing pushback in Lansing from the House Democrat leader. Ranjeev Puri accused Hall of supporting bad policies by the Trump administration that hurt Michigan. LANSING (FOX 2) - House Democrats have broken their collective silence and are taking on GOP Speaker Matt Hall for the way he is running the Michigan House. Hall has staged weekly news conference dating back to January 14. Have the House Democrats held weekly news conferences to respond? Big picture view Nope, until now. House Democratic leader Ranjeev Puri took on the speaker with a list of allegations. "When unserious people are put in the position of power they have, there are very dangerous consequences," Puri said. "I don't understand why Matt Hall has not been standing up for the people of Michigan." The House Democrats accused the speaker of following an alleged broken down agenda coming from President Donald Trump. The Democrats argued the GOP speaker ought to be rejecting Trump's tariffs with a bad impact on Michigan. "Tell Donald Trump, 'Hey, maybe a trade war isn't good for our state," Puri said. The Democrats also argue the speaker is wrong for missing the july one budget deadline that could force schools to lay off teachers during the summer. "Teachers are pink slipped, hundreds of teachers in individual districts will be put on leave this summer," he said. Of course the speaker deflects the criticism saying he is taking more time to find more waste in the budget in order to save taxpayers' Hall has criticized Lansing Democrat Senator Sarah Anthony for writing a budget that is a billion dollars out of whack. One could say that budget peace is not at hand - but the rhetoric is going up. The Source Information for this report is from an interview with House Democratic leader Ranjeev Puri.
CBS News
10-03-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Michigan lawmakers debate over road funding plan
State lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are working on plans to address the funding needed to fix Michigan roads, but whether they can come to a compromise is still up for debate. "We plan on increasing funding for our roads without raising taxes; that's our goal," said state Rep. Donni Steele (R-54th District). As she faces her final year in office, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wants to establish a plan for something she ran her campaign on in 2018: finding a long-term solution to fix Michigan's roads. Right now, the Democratic leader wants $3 billion more a year to do it, with most of the money coming from imposing new taxes and fees on businesses, but some of her fellow Democrats say there may be another way. "If we are kind of being honest with ourselves, this is going to be a multifaceted approach of really exploring all the different ideas that are on the table and finding the right mix of solutions that can get us to that number," said state Rep. Ranjeev Puri (D-24th District). House Democratic Leader Ranjeev Puri says the focus for his party is ensuring that the cuts made are fair for everyone. "We want to find a solution that is sustainable, that is future-proof, regardless of what kind of vehicle you're driving," said State Rep. Puri. While members on both sides of the aisle say they want the work to get done, where they disagree is where the money is going to come from. "To me, a user fee is a tax, and we don't have to do that because there's room in this budget to be able to fund these roads without adding taxes," said Steele. Both Puri and Steele say the discussions are still in the early stages, with the hope of getting a decision on the table by early fall.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Michigan House Republicans pass $20 billion spending plan to Democrats ire
House Minority Leader Rep. Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) discussing House Republican's $20 billion spending plan passed Thursday. March 6, 2025. Photo by Anna Liz Nichols. Months before the Sept. 30 deadline, Republican leadership in the Michigan House quickly unveiled and voted through their plans Thursday to prevent stoppages in their version of essential services should the Legislature, split along partisan lines, fail to pass a state budget. As Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) unveiled the plan to members of the media before session, which includes a $20 billion spending plan to maintain government services in the event of a government shutdown, as well as $49 million to 'close the books' on expenditures in last year's budget. Democrats have accused Hall of setting his sights on a government shutdown rather than working with them in his chamber and the Democratic majority in the Senate on a new state budget. But Hall said he's interested in taking the bite out of those claims by securing funding for key government programs like schools and local law enforcement 'Let's just stop the games…Democrats stop using schools and prisons and veterans homes and local governments and police as pawns in your political game to threaten the government shutdown in order to bond your very unpopular radical left programs,' Hall said. The plans speedily were put to a vote on the House floor shortly after their unveiling Thursday, with full support from Republicans and Hall ally Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit). Democratic leadership decried the move at a news conference following the vote as foreshadowing of how budget negotiations will go. And the plan leaves out funding for transportation and resources for rural schools, as well as free meals at schools, cutting the school aid budget by about 25% of what it was last year, Rep. Regina Weiss (D-Oak Park) said, adding that Republican priorities put the state's most vulnerable families at risk of losing out on help from the state. And if Hall is trying to make 'Art of the Deal' political moves, invoking President Donald Trump's book, Weiss said Hall is putting Michigan kids in danger. 'This is bad politics. This is bad policy. This is going to hurt our kids,' Weiss said. 'It is dangerous and we don't need this shit in Michigan.' House Minority Leader Rep. Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) acknowledged that Michigan exists in a 'split government' where the people of Michigan have elected a Republican-led House and a Democratic-led Senate, but there are certain priorities, like making sure school kids are fed that should cross partisan lines. '…Michiganders are sick of the partisan divide, the political rhetoric. They want real solutions to lower costs, improve their lives and this isn't it,' Puri said. 'This is Hall playing with vulnerable kids, families, Michiganders all over the state, just for his own personal power grabs his own personal political game.' The plan has a long way to go and there will be time for negotiations, House Appropriations Chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton) told members of the media on the House floor, and it simply serves to show that House Republicans don't want to see a government shutdown in an act of good faith. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
CBS News
13-02-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Michigan House Republicans implement rule to withhold grant funds from sanctuary cities
(CBS DETROIT) - In a party-line vote, Michigan House Republicans implemented a new rule to discourage sanctuary cities. House Rule 19 prohibits any state funding outside of normal budgetary spending from going to a county, city, village or township that has a policy in place to not cooperate with immigration and customs enforcement (ICE). "In my opinion, H.R. 19 was nothing more than a power grab by our House Republicans here," said Rep. Ranjeev Puri, D-Canton. "This is a blatant attempt by the speaker to start controlling which local municipalities can receive state funds under the guise of immigration." "We just want to try and disincentivize that type of behavior from some of these rogue type of municipalities or counties," said Rep. Joe Aragona, R-Clinton Township. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, Michigan has only one city officially designated as a sanctuary city and a handful of counties, such as Kalamazoo, Washtenaw and Kent. Puri tells CBS News Detroit he sees the new rule as intentionally vague. "This is causing a tremendous amount of chaos and confusion for us to kind of kind of figure out what exactly is going on," he said. However, Aragona says he sees this new rule as fiscal competency. He said the new rule doesn't impact a city or county's regular funding; it would apply to any special state grant funding, which is a smaller pot of money. "In order to be responsible with these types of dollars, we want to ensure that you don't have any of these what they would call sanctuary city type policies," said Aragona. "A couple of years ago in the budget, there was a number of splash pads that went out in the budget. Now, obviously, those are things that we're looking to cut down on at this point."
