Featured photo: Left to right- House Democratic Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) and state Rep. Kimberly Edwards (D-Eastpointe
LANSING, Mich., Dec. 17, 2025—House Democrats fought repeatedly today against the elimination of $645 million in funding Republicans unilaterally cut last week from programs, communities and organizations across the state, and were stopped by the House majority on more than a dozen occasions. Legislators advocated in committee and on the floor for the bipartisan Senate-passed supplemental to be brought forward for a vote, which would have restored funding to provide meals for seniors, wigs for kids battling cancer, assistance for children who have survived sexual assault and more.
“Today we gave the few dissenting Republicans who, for a moment, pretended to genuinely care about their communities, the chance to do what is right and vote yes to restore that funding,” said House Democratic Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton). “Instead of doing the courageous thing, every single one of them held the party line and hid behind Speaker Hall. Despite massive public outcry from nearly every district in this state and hours of testimony in the Senate yesterday, Republicans chose 15 different times today to tell vulnerable Michiganders who were promised, and counting on, that money, ‘screw you’.”
Republicans in four different committees voted unanimously to reject or pass on amendments that would have brought the supplemental funding bill to the floor for a vote, and later rejected eight different opportunities to pass the funding bill on the floor. Despite Republicans in the House and Senate speaking out against the funding cuts over the last week, every House Republican remained silent or actively endorsed the cuts with their voting decisions today.
“Restoring this funding shouldn’t be a political issue, and it’s disappointing our Republican colleagues chose to make it one today,” said State Rep. Kimberly Edwards (D-Eastpointe). “People and representatives from dozens of communities, ranging from non-profit directors to police and fire chiefs, have spoken out against these cuts and the uncertainty and chaos they have plunged their cities and organizations into. Today’s votes were not complicated, and they should not have been partisan: it was a chance to give this money back and restore trust in state government. House Democrats are going to keep fighting to do that, even if Republicans have no interest in joining us.”
Following session, House Democratic legislators announced the introduction of bills that would eliminate the obscure mechanism that allowed one party in one chamber to strip the funding in the first place. Procedural requests to allow for an immediate vote on the bills have been issued to the House Speaker.
