‘Make the government smaller again’: House Republicans approve budget $12.3 BILLION LESS than Whitmer proposal

The MI House omnibus appropriations bill is a 945-pager very different from Governor Whitmer's proposed $88 Billion budget posted here 3 months ago.

MDHHS line-items begin pg. 326. It has full-time equivalent employees down 691 from last year, approximately 1600 or 10% down from just a few years ago. 

Significantly, this appropriation bill divides MDHHS spending by sub-department for closer accountability.

• human services                                $  6.6 Bn         9,855.8 FTE
• Medicaid & behavioral health             $22.9 Bn         3,832.3 FTE
• public health                                    $  1.1 Bn           735.4 FTE

The gross budget is $30.6 Billion with 14,423.5 FTE by my rough math. Fiscal analysis for MDHHS begins on pg. 57.

The Midwesterner captures the big picture.

https://www.themidwesterner.news/2026/04/make-the-government-smaller-again-house-republicans-approve-budget-123-billion-less-than-whitmer-proposal/

‘Make the government smaller again’: House Republicans approve budget $12.3 BILLION LESS than Whitmer proposal

Speaker Hall: 'We don't need to raise taxes, we don't need to raid the rainy day fund'

Travers Koory    |    April 23, 2026

Michigan House Republicans advanced a $75.8 billion state budget Wednesday night that aims to “make the government smaller again” by emphasizing fiscal discipline and core services.

Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton Twp., chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said the spending plan “puts Michigan families first,” with overall spending reductions and a renewed commitment to efficiency after years of what Republicans call chronic over-budgeting under Democratic leadership.

House Bill 5619 reduces overall spending by $106 million and cuts nearly $600 million from the state’s general fund. It also avoids any new tax increases or withdrawals from the rainy day fund.

“Right now, families are stretching every dollar just to keep up,” Bollin said in a statement. “They expect their government to be just as careful with their money.”

House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Twp., noted the Republican budget saves billions by cutting vacant but funded positions across government, and aligning allocations with actual spending in recent years.

“We were able to cut $2 billion from this budget, by not cutting anything,” Hall said during a press conference after the vote. “You’re not cutting anything except for the ghost employees and the money they’re not spending.”

House Republicans have made eliminating so-called “ghost employees” a top priority, with the removal of roughly 3,300 vacant positions in the current proposal building on roughly 2,000 eliminated in the current budget. Republicans contend nearly half of budget line items have been routinely overfunded, creating close to $2 billion in excess that they’re redirecting to other spending.

“We’re putting an end to that practice by grounding this budget in reality,” Bollin said. It is $12.3 billion less than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s $88.1 billion proposal.

The changes align with Speaker Hall’s long-standing push to streamline government operations and cut waste, fraud, and slush funds without harming essential services.

“If you do that, you cut the ghost employees, you cut a lot of the waste, you cut the slush funds,” Hall said.

Despite the reductions, the budget includes targeted investments in key areas important to Michigan families, including roads, support for local governments, and record investments in education.

“We were able to make some real key investments in this budget, including $100 million into roads,” Hall said. “We invested $65 million more into our local governments … [and] the highest per-pupil funding, $250 increase for our kids to $10,300. We’re going to provide universal free breakfast and lunch to all of the kids.”

Other spending in the proposal includes a $1.2 billion increase for Medicaid to cover rising caseloads, as well as new anti-fraud measures and investigator positions. The plan directs $10 million more to the Public Safety Trust Fund and includes support for workforce development and rural programs.

Republicans stressed that the approach strengthens the state’s financial position, including a $300 million deposit into the rainy day fund, without increasing taxes on Michiganders.

“We don’t need to raise taxes,” Hall said. “We don’t need to raid the rainy day fund.”

The budget also cuts funding to the University of Michigan and Michigan State University due to their involvement with Rx Kids and giving benefits to illegal aliens.

“Michigan State University is administering a program that is handing out welfare to illegal aliens, and that’s unacceptable, and that’s one of the reasons why we cut Michigan State in our budget by 62% of state funding,” Hall said. “We don’t want Michigan State University to continue to give welfare to illegal aliens.”

During the press conference Hall tied this year’s budget to last year’s Republican victories, pointing to an intentional $800 million shortfall created by policies no tax on tips and a roads deal negotiated by lawmakers. The FY 2026-27 House budget covers that shortfall by calibrating spending based on real dollars rather than inflated projections, Hall said.

“This year, as we’re going into budget, I just want to remind you that we made this budget right,” Hall said. “We planned this when we did no tax on tips … and we did the roads deal. In doing that, we created the $800 million shortfall on purpose.

“What we propose, and what we showed you can do today is you can do it solely by taking the real dollars spent,” he said.

Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, spoke to reporters on the House floor, criticizing the new budget and questioning its direction. “There’s no strategy here today,” he said. “It’s something I think we ought to be really concerned and focused on.”

The Republican budget, House Bill 5619, ultimately cleared the lower chamber on a vote of 56-51.

Republican Reps. Steve Carra and Jim DeSana voted against the measure, along with Democratic Reps. Joey Andrews, Noah Arbit, Kelly Breen, Julie Brixie, Erin Byrnes, Brenda Carter, Tyrone Carter, Betsy Coffia, Jennifer Conlin, Emily Dievendorf, Kimberly Edwards, Alabas Farhat, John Fitzgerald, Morgan Foreman, Carol Glanville, Peter Herzberg, Kara Hope, Jason Hoskins, Matt Koleszar, Tullio Liberati, Matt Longjohn, Sharon MacDonell, Jasper Martus, Mike McFall, Donavan McKinney, Denise Mentzer, Reggie Miller, Jason Morgan, Tonya Myers Phillips, Cynthia Neeley, Amos O’Neal, Veronica Paiz, Laurie Pohutsky, Natalie Price, Ranjeev Puri, Carrie Rheingans, Julie Rogers, Helena Scott, Phil Skaggs, Will Snyder, Samantha Steckloff, Joe Tate, Penelope Tsernoglou, Dylan Wegela, Regina Wiess, Angela Witwer, Stephan Wooden, Mai Xiong, and Stephanie Young.

The legislation now moves to a Senate controlled by Democrats, who are expected to approve their own budget in the coming weeks before legislative leaders hash out a final product.