A few hundred people rallied outside a veterans hospital in Ann Arbor this weekend to protest federal cuts to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

President Donald Trump has announced plans to lay off staff, tried to void some federal union contracts, and is calling telehealth workers back into offices that may not have space for them.

State Representative Joe Tate (D-Detroit), a marine corps veteran, said he attended Saturday’s protest as someone who has relied on the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System himself. Tate said it makes him “sick” to see resources scaled back, warning that could bring dire consequences.

“You have these effects where you’re going to put people in the ground, veterans in the ground, if some of these veterans don’t get the services they need,” Tate said.

Read more: 10 year Marine Corps veteran terminated from Veterans Affairs in Ann Arbor

Tate and others at the protest frequently brought up threats to funding for the 2022 PACT Act, which aims to help veterans exposed to toxic chemicals via risks like burn pits or Agent Orange, as a top concern.

Earlier this month, Trump signed a spending bill that cuts money for the Act as part of a plan to avoid a government shutdown that some Senate Democrats also eventually backed.

Army veteran Justin Coates attended Saturday’s rally carrying an American flag and a megaphone. He said he slept next to a burn pit during his first tour of duty.

“We used to throw like lithium batteries into it and trash and human waste and stuff like that. I slept next to it night, and we used to joke about how we were all going to die of cancer in a few years. So, when the PACT Act was passed, that was great. We were all excited about that. I was able to get on the registry. I told all my friends about it, all the guys in my squad,” Coates said.

He worries what he and his fellow veterans went through will be forgotten. He said he’s lost more friends to suicide than combat.

“Hearing about the cuts to the veteran crisis line, hearing about veteran crisis-line operators having to operate from their cars or in open air cubicles or what have you, just seeing the absolute lack of care for veterans under the guise of increasing efficiency, it’s frankly insulting to everyone’s intelligence,” Coates said.

Read more: How will cuts to the VA and its services impact veterans?

Leadership at the VA, however, has vehemently denied the changes made will translate to cuts to veterans services. In a video response to concerns posted on February 13, VA Secretary Doug Collins dismissed stories about veterans benefits being cut as “hypotheticals” being circulated in the media.

“Reality is, veterans benefits aren’t getting cut,” Collins said. “In fact, we’re actually giving and improving services.”

Collins said the department is running more efficiently and clearing cases sooner.

Since posting that video, Collins has defended reported plans to let go 80,000 staff from the VA. That’s as the department works with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, or D.O.G.E.

A handful of union leaders and elected officials, including Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, and U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-MI 12) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI 6) criticized the Trump Administrations’ decisions at Saturday’s rally.

Dingell said she fears veterans are getting caught up in a “meat cleaver” being taken to several departments. She said she worried about losing progress, noting both Democratic and Republican administrations have struggled to take care of soldiers after they serve.

“We have to honor our commitment and keep working to go forward. And when you see this many people understanding that we’ve got a moral responsibility (to those) who fought to keep us free, that’s what they’re out here for, fighting for those veterans,” Dingell said.

Michigan has around 479,000 veterans, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

A Republican-backed plan to fund road repairs in Michigan could be voted out of a state House committee Tuesday.

The proposal involves removing the 6% sales tax currently charged on gas sales and replacing it with a higher fuel tax that would go toward road repairs. The bill package sponsors say consumers wouldn’t see any difference in how much they pay.

The bills would also send around $2.2 billion in corporate income tax revenue to roads as well.

State Rep. Pat Outman (R-Six Lakes) chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He said he plans to add another bill to the package that would create a neighborhood road fund to make sure side streets don’t get forgotten.

“It’s a fund specifically for certain streets that might not be federally aid eligible or ones that are most neglected that usually don’t get the adequate resources to it,” Outman said Monday.

Outman said the fund would be a good deal for smaller units of government like townships since they wouldn’t necessarily have to match what county road departments spend on road projects.

While House Republicans are pushing forward with their road funding plan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is promoting her own.

Like Republicans, Whitmer has also suggested using all taxes collected at the gas pump for road repairs. But she’s also looking to have large companies and the marijuana industry pay more to help with roads too.

Outman said a compromise is still a ways out.

“The bottom line is the vast majority of her money is generated through new revenue sources. And then the vast majority of ours is through existing revenue and just rather reprioritizing some existing funding,” Outman said.

Some concerns have arisen about what would happen to school funding under the proposals, given that it depends largely on sales tax revenue that would no longer be collected on gas.

Republicans say they’ve answered that concern by dedicating an extra $775 million to the School Aid Fund.

The Ontario government announced it’s charging an extra 25% on all electricity exports to the U.S. Monday.

The provincial government says that’ll impact 1.5 million homes spread across Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. Ontario said that could cost up to $400,000 each day the surcharge is in place, blaming tariffs from the Trump Administration for the move.

Despite Ontario naming Michigan in its announcement, state regulators expect the move could more likely be felt on a regional scale.

“While the vast majority of Michigan’s electricity is either produced by the electric utilities or purchased under long-term power contracts, the imposition of these tariffs could have some impact on prices in the regional energy markets, though the ultimate impact on Michigan customers is likely to be small,” a written statement from the Michigan Public Service Commission read.

The agency cast doubt on whether any utilities in the state actually purchase electricity from Canada to begin with.

In a written statement, DTE Energy, one of the state’s largest utility companies, said it was prepared to mitigate any pricing concerns.

“DTE continues to monitor the evolving tariff policies with Canada.We self-generate the majority of electricity required to serve our customers’ needs, with the small amount that we do purchase coming from the United States.” DTE Energy said.

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) said “the vast majority” of the state’s electricity is produced by the state’s utilities themselves or through long term contracts.

The MPSC is warning, however, that Michigan’s electric grid is tied to several other states and one Canadian province, Manitoba. It said Michigan’s regional operator and Ontario’s regional operator coordinate that flow of electricity.

“Any action to limit or disrupt these flows would remove a layer of protection and make all of us – Canadians and Americans alike – more vulnerable to grid-scale outages,” the MSPC statement said.

Brandon D. Morris is with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which operates Michigan’s electric grid.

“MISO is still reviewing Ontario’s recent decision to apply an export tax on electricity, which will be collected on the Canadian side of the border,” Morris said in a statement.

The Michigan House voted Tuesday to keep lawmakers from signing non-disclosure agreements.

The practice has come under scrutiny in recent years as some lawmakers and state officials have signed NDAs as part of talks to bring some economic development projects. That includes for a General Motors battery plant that spurred the creation of the often-criticized Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund.

State Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) co-sponsored the bipartisan bills. He said public servants shouldn’t be signing NDAs, especially for business incentives.

“They’re using tax dollars to fund these projects. And then the idea that we as legislators would be complicit in that process and signing secrecy pacts, saying we cannot disclose the conversations we’ve had is a reckless form of governance.”

The bills would apply to lawmakers and their staff acting in their official capacities.

Despite the criticism, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which took the lead in talks over some of the projects that have involved NDAs, defended the practice.

“It is important to note that in our experience, those seeking to make a significant investment are increasingly requiring NDAs, given the financial and proprietary information being shared. Further, no decisions are made until an investment opportunity is voted on by the bipartisan and bicameral appointees of Michigan Strategic Fund board in a public setting,” MEDC spokesperson Otie McKinley said in a written statement.

That feeling was shared by some of the lawmakers who voted against the bills.

Opponents to the bills argue NDAs are a tool that keeps Michigan competitive economically and that they stop lawmakers from insider trading when they know something is coming.

Rep. Phil Skaggs (D-East Grand Rapids) was among the lawmakers who voted against the bills.

“Non-disclosure agreements are critical for competitiveness, our ability to attract new jobs, cutting edge technology. And we should be involved in far more serious ethics issues than what I think here is largely a nothing burger,” Skaggs said.

Sponsors of the bills, including Rep. Dylan Wegela (D-Inkster) rejected the argument, however, that NDAs were necessary to bring business to Michigan.

“I think if corporations want public tax dollars, they should do their business in public. And that should be part of the discussion. Right? We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars going to multimillion dollar and multibillion dollar corporations,” Wegela said.

Lawmakers on both sides of the argument, however, have said they want the House to take up Senate-passed bills that would expand the Freedom of Information Act. Republican House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp) has said those bills aren’t a priority for him.

Ahead of voting in the House Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to tie the NDA legislation to the FOIA bills so one couldn’t become law without the other.

The NDA bills still passed with wide bipartisan support, by margins of 80-28 and 91-17.

The legislation now heads to the state Senate.

A bill to change Michigan’s minimum wage law ahead of it taking effect passed the state Legislature Wednesday. The law is scheduled to take effect Friday.

If left unchanged, the law would gradually raise the minimum wage for both tipped and non-tipped workers until both are making the same amount by 2030.

The bill would speed up raises for non-tipped workers so they get to $15 an hour by 2027 instead of just coming close in 2028 with a planned $14.97 minimum wage.

But the bill would also slow down gradual raises for people who get tips. It would cap that minimum wage for tipped workers, like bartenders and servers, at half of what everyone else makes.

Employers would still be responsible for covering the gap if tips don’t make up the difference.

Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland) said that’s a necessary compromise to protect businesses.

“It’s not perfect, but it is an action, an immediate action that’s going to help preserve our tip credit and the tip wage system. And I think that’s vital in here to the restaurant industry,” Schuette said after the House vote Wednesday.

The bill is now cleared to head to the governor to receive her signature. But, for it to go into place by Friday’s deadline, it would need the Senate to vote for it to take effect immediately. That would require a supermajority in the Democratic-controlled chamber.

Republicans and hospitality industry groups say restaurants and bars could go out of business if they become responsible for covering a server’s entire base pay. Some Democrats in both the House and Senate also voted in favor of the bill.

But other Democrats say lawmakers shouldn’t touch the petition-initiated minimum WAGE law before it takes effect Friday.

That’s especially after lawmakers, in 2018, adopted the initiative before it could go to the ballot and watered it down, in a move known as “adopt and amend.” It led to a court challenge that eventually set the Feb. 21 deadline to begin with.

One Fair Wage, the group behind the petition, sent out a press release Tuesday that argued passing the bill would be illegal under the court ruling. It included an open letter from University of Michigan law professor Samuel Bagenstos.

“The Legislature’s original adopt-and-amend constitutional violation has meant that the Wage Act and Earned Sick Leave Act have been in suspended animation for years and have still not gone into effect. For the Legislature to amend these initiatives now, before letting them take effect, would be to once again ‘sidestep the people’s reserved power,’ Bagenstos wrote, referencing another law also planned to take effect Friday.

That law guarantees all non-federal workers in Michigan the right to at least some paid time off. How much that would be depends on how many hours they work and the size of their employer.

Business groups say wording in the law would create too much new paperwork for companies and not include enough accountability to make sure people don’t skip work without any warning.

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp) said any compromise with Democrats needs to include exceptions for small businesses and seasonal workers, limit who can sue an employer, and include more accountability.

Hall also wants it to be more clear that businesses can offer the required sick time up front and not have to worry about doing the math to see how much sick time someone earns based on hours worked.

“I think we’re laying out things that we need to protect in order to do a deal here,” Hall told reporters during a press conference Wednesday.

Like with the minimum wage bill, however, some Democrats are promising opposition, saying people should be able to stay home if they’re sick, regardless of how many coworkers they have.

When asked what he’s hoping to get out of any compromise legislation, House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) said he’s just trying to watch out for Michigan workers.

“There’s been a very false choice presented where we have to pick between business and workers. And I don’t think that that is the reality of the situation here,” Puri told reporters.

The main sick leave policy bill is currently before the state Senate, which is expected to take up a vote on the measure Thursday in what could end up being a long session day.

The House would likely still need to agree to whatever compromise changes the Senate could introduce before the sick leave bill goes to the governor as well.

Both the sick leave and minimum wage bills are tie-barred together, meaning neither can take effect unless both become law.