Cam Cavitt

ALPENA — State Representative for Northeast Michigan Cam Cavitt, R-Cheboygan, says he is confident that a new budget deal can be reached before the Oct. 1 deadline and avoid a government shutdown.

If a budget isn’t adopted though, Cavitt believes the legislators in Lansing should not receive their paychecks until a budget is approved.

On Thursday, Cavitt voted in favor of a proposal to withhold lawmaker pay, which would have required an amendment to the Michigan Constitution. However, the proposal failed 70-30 which was short of the two-thirds majority needed to make it law.

Cavitt said many Democrats in the Republican-controlled chamber supported the amendment, but others voted against it or refused to vote on the proposal and left the House chambers to avoid voting on the matter.

“How House Democrats can honestly vote against this measure is beyond me,” Cavitt said. “We may not agree on the details, but we’ve all been talking about how important getting a budget done is for months now,” Cavitt said in a press release. “The truth is, the Michigan Senate is sitting on its hands while the House Republicans, and I thought Democrats – are ready to get something done. Apparently, the urgency for House Democrats was entirely political. Because this was their chance to show they actually wanted to secure a final budget on time – not just this year, but every year – and they entirely swung and missed.”

Cavitt said he is still confident a budget deal can be reached and the House has had a budget drafted since before the end of June. He said the budget is still ready to be approved, but as negotiations with Democrats and members of the Senate continue, there could be some alterations to it. He said leaders of the state House and Senate are still in talks about the budget, but it is a race against the clock. Cavitt said a shutdown will benefit nobody, especially citizens.

“Nobody wants a shutdown and nobody needs a shutdown,” he said. “Passing a state budget is our most important job as legislators. Yet, state Senators still threw up their hands and gave up. Instead, those same Senators are still collecting fat government checks while schools and critical services are put increasingly at risk for next year with every passing day. I bet a state budget would get done real quick if someone put a stop payment on those checks.”

If a budget deal can’t be reached, Cavitt said $20 billion has been reserved from the passing of the Government Shutdown Protection bill, which ensures essential services, such as education, prisons, police, hospitals, and veteran’s services will continue to be funded for as long as that amount of money allows.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.