No roads deal in Lansing as Michigan House prepares for break

LANSING, Mich. – The potholes will live to see another day. The votes, for now, are not there in the Michigan State House to pass bills that would increase the gas tax by 15 cents, increase diesel taxes and calls for $700 million in unspecified budget cuts.

That is the deal that squeaked through the state senate, but so far, despite plenty of meetings, they can't get any traction in the state house. Last week, leadership in the GOP-controlled house tried to get members on board, but got nowhere. Couple that with the democrats, who are wholly uninterested in cutting any deals.

State Representative Peter Lucido spent Monday evening bringing the Macomb GOP up to speed on where things stand. He's not surprised the votes aren't there.

"You have a lot of new members, about 28 in the Republican Party and 12 in the Democrat party," Lucido said. "Some of  the members took a pledge for no new taxes and they signed those pledges so why would they want to lie to those people who put them in office and trusted them with their vote and now go back to them and say ‘I lied'?"

All of which means no gas tax increase and no new monies raised to fix our roads and infrastructure. There's no question legislators are gun shy after voters crushed a ballot proposal in May that was asking for an increase in the sales tax to fund road repair. With no action expected Tuesday, the state house will then adjourn until mid-August.


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