Granholm disapproves of legislative budget deal

After leaving for Japan on a trade mission and returning to find that House Speaker Andy Dillon had agreed to accept steep budget cuts passed by the Republican-controlled Senate, Gov. Jennifer Granholm expressed her disapproval of those cuts but did not promise to veto a budget that includes them. The Detroit News reports:

She said the $1.2 billion in cuts in the agreement between House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, for the fiscal year that starts in two weeks “are too deep.” But Granholm stopped short of saying she will veto the budget if it comes to her in that form.

“I am not going to support cuts that eliminate the Promise scholarships or that put communities into bankruptcy because they’ve cut so deeply where communities would be forced to lay off huge amounts of firefighters or police officers,” Granholm said in comments provided by aides. “Obviously, we’re going to cut, and the cuts are going to be hard, but those cuts go too far.”

Dillon has agreed that the House will accept the budget cuts passed by the Senate, but Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop would only promise that revenue increases would be considered. Granholm thinks that’s a bad deal:

Granholm said that strategy is too risky.

“Where’s the leverage to ensure that (the tax increase package) happens? Once you sign off on something like that (the budget cuts), then there’s no guarantee that the next step will happen,” the governor said. “This has to be a comprehensive deal, and it’s got to be a deal that’s good for Michigan.”

This looks a lot like Dillon caving in to Bishop from this vantage point, agreeing to the cuts without any ability to insist on revenue increases.