State GOP and MI Gov Whitmer spar over plans to fix roads, and who's telling the truth

The Republican leader of the Michigan House Transportation Committee says Gov. Gretchen Whitmer isn't telling the truth about the GOP's plan to fix state roads.

In a recent speech to the Detroit Economic Club, Whitmer said the Republican plan to move current funding from some areas to road projects would take money from public safety, work to bring new business and jobs to the state and affordable housing options.

Rep. Pat Outman, R-Six Lakes and the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the GOP plan will not impact police, fire or housing.

"As one of the sponsors of this plan, I want to set the record straight and make it clear that our plan will not affect funding for public safety or for housing. In fact, we introduced two specific amendments to hold those two things harmless in our plan," Outman said in a statement. "It's bold to make a claim that can so quickly be refuted. Hiding behind false facts will work out for her just about as well as hiding behind those blue folders did."

Last week, Whitmer hid her face behind a blue folder to shield herself from photographers during an Oval Office meeting with President Trump. That meeting came after she delivered a speech just a few blocks away from the White House in which she called for the strategic use of tariffs rather than Trump's on-and-off-again broad approach.

It also came just days before asking Trump to declare a federal emergency for areas of northern Michigan impacted by a recent ice storm.

At the Detroit Economic Club, she pushed her road-fix plan that includes a $1 billion investment in local roads and $250 million in public transit programs throughout the state.

Part of that funding would come from closing a "loophole" and levying taxes on the marijuana industry, which was first legalized in Michigan in 2018. The rest of it would be raised via taxes on corporations and big tech companies, as well as shifting funding from gas taxes back to fixing the roads.

House Republicans pushed back against the need to raise taxes. Instead, their plan uses existing revenue sources, cutting funding to certain economic development programs and corporate subsidies, to fund $3.1 billion annually. Of that, $2.5 billion annually would go to repair local roads.

Both plans are stalled in the House.

Outman believes a deal can be reached that can pass the Democrat-controlled Senate and avoid a Whitmer veto.

"We understand the importance and necessity of a bipartisan effort to get anything passed through our divided Legislature and ultimately signed into law without a veto from our Democrat governor," Outman said. "We believe there is a compromise out there, and we are eager to find it before one more tire falls victim to a Michigan pothole. The people are counting on us to get it done – but these kinds of false narratives are a step in the wrong direction."