News Story

Michigan Pols Approve Stimulus Spending

Michigan state government will spend another $47.9 million in federal stimulus money under a bill recently signed by the governor.  As with previous state expenditures of this type, Michigan Senate Bill 1166 draws this money from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. More familiarly known as the "Federal Stimulus Bill," this measure was supported by the President and most Democrats in Congress, and was opposed by every single Republican in the U.S. House and all but three Republican U.S. Senators. 

To many Democrats, the stimulus and its various spending components are a signature accomplishment of the President's first year in office. On the other side, opposition to this spending has become one of the single largest causes of the grassroots "tea party" movement that has spring up across the nation

Republicans in the Michigan Legislature were more supportive of spending this latest chunk of the stimulus pie than their federal counterparts were toward baking the $787 billion spending pie in the first place. In the Michigan House, Republicans split right down the middle, with 21 voting for SB 1166 and 21 voting against it. One House Democrat, Rep. Coleman Young Jr. of Detroit, bucked an otherwise supportive Democrat caucus and also voted "no."

In the Michigan Senate, all but two Republicans voted in favor of the $47.9 million appropriation of stimulus spending. Democrats all voted in favor.

Detroit and other large cities in Michigan would be the biggest winners from this new spending. According to a Senate Fiscal Agency memo, $30 million of SB 1166's spending will go toward "energy efficiency improvement" projects, with a large portion of that going to "central city" buildings in Detroit, Grand Rapids and elsewhere.  The money would be used to provide "energy efficiency" retrofits for private residences, commercial buildings and public buildings.

Michigan's $30 million share of this spending comes from a $400 million U.S. Dept. of Energy grant program that is funded from the federal stimulus act.

The Senate Fiscal Agency reports that the remaining $17.9 million from SB 1166 will be used to "support maintenance and demolition of tax-reverted properties" in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Pontiac and Wyandotte.

On July 1, both chambers of the Legislature approved this spending. SB 1166 was signed into law by the governor on July 21. The MichiganVotes.org roll call votes for this bill are listed below.

Contact information for all lawmakers is at www.MichCapCon.com/9313.

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Lawmakers who voted FOR STIMULUS SPENDING:

HOUSE REPUBLICANS (21)

Ball

Bolger

Booher

Caul

Crawford

DeShazor

Green

Hansen

Horn

Jones, Rick

Lori

Moore

Moss

Opsommer

Proos

Rocca

Schmidt, W.

Schuitmaker

Stamas

Tyler

Walsh

       

SENATE REPUBLICANS (19)

Allen

Birkholz

Bishop

Brown

Cropsey

Garcia

George

Gilbert

Hardiman

Jansen

Jelinek

Kahn

Kuipers

McManus

Nofs

Pappageorge

Richardville

Sanborn

Stamas

 

HOUSE DEMOCRATS (63)

Angerer

Barnett

Bauer

Bennett

Bledsoe

Brown, L.

Brown, T.

Byrnes

Byrum

Clemente

Constan

Corriveau

Cushingberry

Dean

Dillon

Donigan

Durhal

Ebli

Geiss

Gonzales

Gregory

Griffin

Haase

Hammel

Haugh

Huckleberry

Jackson

Johnson

Jones, Robert

Kandrevas

Kennedy

Lahti

LeBlanc

Leland

Lemmons

Lindberg

Lipton

Liss

Mayes

McDowell

Meadows

Melton

Miller

Nathan

Nerat

Neumann

Polidori

Roberts

Schmidt, R.

Scott, B.

Scripps

Segal

Sheltrown

Slavens

Slezak

Smith

Spade

Stanley

Switalski

Tlaib

Valentine

Warren

Womack

   

SENATE DEMOCRATS (16)

Anderson

Barcia

Basham

Brater

Cherry

Clark-Coleman

Clarke

Gleason

Jacobs

Olshove

Prusi

Scott

Switalski

Thomas

Whitmer

Hunter

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Lawmakers who VOTED AGAINST SPENDING STIMULUS money:

HOUSE REPUBLICANS (21)

Agema

Amash

Calley

Daley

Denby

Elsenheimer

Genetski

Haines

Haveman

Hildenbrand

Knollenberg

Kowall

Kurtz

Lund

Marleau

McMillin

Meekhof

Meltzer

Pavlov

Rogers

Scott, P.

       

SENATE REPUBLICANS (2)

Cassis

Patterson

HOUSE DEMOCRATS (1)

Young

SENATE DEMOCRATS (ZERO)

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Lawmakers who DID NOT VOTE

Rep. Espinoza (D)

Rep. Pearce (R)

Sen. Van Woerkom (R)

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See also: 

Full Time Stimulus Spending - Part Time Work 

Michigan Stimulus Recipients Failing to Report - Part 2

$41 Million in Stimulus Money Went Unreported by Michigan Agency

Green Jobs Training

More Federal Spending On the Way - And the Michigan House Asked for It

Have We Really Been Stimulated?

Cost to Revive Economy With Battery Plant Subsidies: $5 Trillion 

Stimulus Spending Goes to Black Holes

Stimulus Boosts Bus Transit

Private Home Weatherization a Stimulus Spending Priority

Stimulus Fails at Job Creation  

 

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.