Democrats control the state senate and the governorship. The squeaky wheel is the Michigan House – controlled not just by Republicans but by Speaker Matt Hall who has often taken an antagonistic stance toward Democrats. 

House Democratic Leader Ranjeev Puri spoke to WDET about previous budget problems and Speaker Matt Hall.  

Puri: It’s going better than last year. Unfortunately, last year, noticeably, the speaker dragged the budget out well past the constitutional deadline into September, October. This year, I think there is a motivation to try to get it done on time. 

McNamara: So, what’s the difference there in the motivation? Is it embarrassment after last year, or is it more familiar with the process, or is there better communication? 

Puri: I think it’s a little bit more the former. I think he’s understood the pitfalls of trying to play political games with so much of the state’s resources, and resources that so many institutions count on, and so it’s hard for these groups to budget for the year, not knowing and having so much uncertainty of that money is actually coming through, and so I think they got an earful around the state about that, and then noticeably there is a big election around the corner, and it’s time to get out of Lansing and into your districts. 

McNamara: Right, so everybody can go out and campaign a little bit. So, what are the main priorities for Democrats in the state budget? 

Puri: We want to continue to fight for critical programs and making sure that the investment happens again. We have a pretty large state budget relative to other states, and we want to make sure that we’re funding programs that millions of Michiganders count on, so making sure that we’re continuing to do our best from a state standpoint to work against H.R.1 federally, the Big Beautiful Bill, and so just making sure that health care access is as strong as possible in the state of Michigan, making sure we’re funding our schools and doing whatever we can to put programs out there making sure that Michiganders can succeed around the state. 

McNamara: Speaker Hall likes to rail against waste, fraud and abuse. I’m guessing that your definition of waste, fraud and abuse is maybe a little bit different. Is there some compromise to be had, where you can see some pork to trim, as it were. 

Puri: I think every elected official, Republican or Democrat, wants to be stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars. I think that is an immense responsibility given to us, and no one wants to see government money spent inefficiently. I think the reality is to these conversations is that you can’t just take a sledgehammer to the budget and call it all waste, fraud and abuse. He took money away from newborns. If we’ve gotten to a place in our political discourse that’s saying that newborns are waste, fraud and abuse, we’re just not going to agree. And I think, unfortunately, the reality of the conversation is that there are so many non-negotiables out there of things that we need to be doing to make life easier for Michiganders, and if you just call everything in the budget waste, fraud and abuse, it doesn’t magically become true. And I think he learned the lesson the hard way last year, and so that’s why you’re seeing a little bit different of an approach—but of course, you know he loves the political gimmicks, and being able to call everything waste, fraud and abuse, and then just throws everything into that bucket as if it’s magically some cure-all. But the reality is that the budget is $80 some billion. That should be scrutinized where we spend it, but we don’t need to call every program waste, fraud and abuse. 

McNamara: Is there a hard line, something you refuse to go back down if the budget line on this is staying where it is? 

Puri: Again, same thing as last year, it’s the school meals. I think Michigan has set a standard around the country in terms of what we can do to provide access to making sure that a Michigan student in all corners of the state is guaranteed a meal, both breakfast and lunch, at their local public institution, and I think that’s something we should take a lot of pride in, just being able to make sure that kids are learning on a full belly. The speaker wanted to make that a political fight last year, and fortunately, we were able to come out on top, and that’s going to be another priority this year as well.  

McNamara: Part of that is addressing food insecurity for a lot of kids. The cost of living is going back up again. Gas prices have gone up considerably. The Trump administration and Congress have taken millions of people off of SNAP benefits. So, what is the state of Michigan doing to kind of help address that, even outside of the school meal program? 

Puri: It’s been a priority for the House Democrats. We introduced legislation to try to backfill some of that, but the reality is that the state’s treasury is never going to fill the government coffers, the federal government coffers, when they decide to do something, and a substantial amount of our state budget, I believe roughly 40, 41% of our state budget comes back from federal funds coming back to back to Michigan, so when the feds decide to decide to do something, it does have a very material impact to the way the state can operate, and so cutting SNAP benefits has affected millions of people in Michigan, and it is again one of those critical programs that I’m speaking of that we need to be doing whatever we can, and so I’m glad you brought that up. I tell people we need to be Trump-proofing our state. It’s a time when we need to put the Democrat-Republican hat down and making sure we’re fighting for Michigan. Unfortunately, Speaker and House leadership right now on the Republican side, we’ve seen them rubber-stamp everything out of DC, even when those policies can disproportionately affect Michigan. When they get into those economic trade policies, we have an auto industry that relies on foreign trade, so those things disproportionately affect Michigan. Those things might poll great in Oklahoma or Alabama, but Michigan, we take a lot of pride in who we are and what the state means, and so it’s about time we have people that are standing up for our state of Michigan. 

McNamara: How is your relationship with Matt Hall? I realize the Matt Hall you might get behind closed doors is a little bit different than the one that has his press conference, and he does tend to go on. However, can you go to him and just talk with him? 

Puri: I cannot. To his credit, he is the same, both on and off camera. Our relationship is largely nonexistent. 

McNamara: Gotcha. So, I know we’re at a place, and it seems like the theme of the Mackinac Policy Conference is always bridging a better tomorrow. Where can we find compromise in all that? Do you find sometimes the rhetoric that just kind of overlooks the reality of the current political climate? 

Puri: Yes, I think you can’t lose sight of civility and the need for things to get done in a better way. The voters in Michigan last year wanted split government, in ‘24 they voted for split government, and so we should be acting as such. The reality is that the House Democrats have a majority of 58-52 but our world and politics shouldn’t be binary. That shouldn’t give them exclusive control to dictate every single thing we do. They shouldn’t bring a lens, as if they are in some sort of Republican trifecta, to how they approach their work. There just hasn’t been a willingness from House leadership to work in a bipartisan manner, like I said, our relationship is largely nonexistent. I’ve from the start extended my hand trying to find a way to work for Michigan, team Michigan, and that hasn’t been the dynamic that the speaker has wanted, and so unfortunately we’re all human, and so you can pick up on that at some point, and we’ve been fighting again as House Democrats, we have been standing up for those values that we hold dear, like making sure that everyone has access to food and health care and education, and bringing down the affordability crisis, and being able to stand up against the federal administration when we think that it’s not acting in Michigan’s best interest, but the other reality is that we do have a pretty monumental election around the corner here in November, and as we get closer, more and more eyeballs are turning to November and looking for the dynamic to change in just a few months. 

McNamara: Does it seem like the political winds are blowing in a way they are nationally?  

Puri: As crazy as our political discourse becomes, I think one thing that we can all agree, you don’t mess with is gas prices. I don’t know how you defend $5 gas in Michigan, that’s just not me. Again, two or three weeks ago, there was a special election in Senate District 35. There was a 20-point correction from November just a couple months ago, and a 20-point swing in the Democrats’ favor. If you apply that statewide, that’s going to be massive, massive wins for Democrats up and down the ballot. So, I think there’s tremendous amount of tailwinds right now, and there’s a lot of excitement for trying to send a mandate out to Washington that again, the policies have just not been Michigan first.