LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to call on state lawmakers to break a monthslong budget stalemate in a speech Tuesday focused on Michigan’s economy as the state faces the prospect of a government shutdown at the start of the fiscal year.
Whitmer, in her second-to-last year as governor, warned that elected leaders “must set aside politics’’ as Michigan confronts both a state deadline and the prospect of a federal shutdown later this month. She has urged lawmakers to pass what she called a balanced, bipartisan budget that lowers costs and invests in education, health care, public safety and roads.
The standoff reflects a sharp partisan divide in Lansing that has unfolded since Republicans, buoyed by strong support for former President Donald Trump in Michigan, won control of the state House in 2024. The Republican-led House and the Democratic-led Senate have sparred over competing budget proposals, and the legislature has enacted little carried over from the opposite chamber this year. Only 12 bills have been signed into law in 2024, according to state records.
Negotiations on the budget have centered on Whitmer, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks and House Speaker Matt Hall. Brinks led the Senate during Democratic trifecta years, and Hall is the new GOP speaker. The three have traded public criticisms of the other side’s proposals, with each chamber’s leaders calling the other's budget plans nonstarters. The Senate has sued the House over bills from the previous year that House leadership have not forwarded to the governor for her signature.
Whitmer’s budget includes a $3 billion proposal to create a sustainable source of funding for roadway and infrastructure repairs — a central pledge of her campaigns, often summed up by her promise to “fix the damn roads.” The Republican-controlled House has passed its own road plan with key differences, and the Democratic-led Senate has not included a long-term road-funding package in its budget as talks continue.
Whitmer has pointed to broader economic forces, including tariffs and trade uncertainty, as weighing on Michigan’s manufacturing sector and overall economy. She has traveled internationally on trade trips in recent weeks, a move that drew criticism from some lawmakers who said the timing was poor given the budget deadline.
State officials say they have begun contingency planning but have provided limited public detail about what a shutdown would look like. Lauren Leeds, a spokesperson for the state budget office, said it is “still too early in the process to determine what a shutdown would look like.’’
A shutdown would take effect if lawmakers do not adopt a budget by the start of the state’s fiscal year on Oct. 1. Precedent from near-shutdowns in Michigan suggests widespread disruption is possible: in 2019, when a shutdown briefly loomed under Whitmer, state actions resulted in temporary layoffs for about 30,000 employees, roughly 62% of the state workforce at the time, although essential workers such as prison staff, state troopers and child protective services personnel remained on duty.
If services were curtailed, Secretary of State offices that handle driver’s licenses and registrations could close, state parks and rest stops could be shuttered, and approvals for liquor sales managed by a state commission could cease, according to officials and the 2019 experience.
Only two states failed to enact a budget by the start of their fiscal year in the most recent data from the National Conference of State Legislatures: North Carolina, which later passed a stopgap plan, and Pennsylvania, where an ongoing impasse has caused financial strain for schools and counties reliant on state funding.
The Michigan standoff has taken on a messaging dimension ahead of the 2026 elections, with Democrats accusing Republicans of deliberately slow-walking the process to advance a partisan agenda and Republicans accusing Democrats of inflating state spending. Lawmakers and Whitmer’s office say they expect a budget will ultimately be passed; the question remains when and which concessions will be made.
Whitmer, who has been mentioned as a potential presidential contender, has sought to balance national visibility with state priorities and has taken a less confrontational posture toward President Donald Trump than some other governors floated as candidates. Her speech Tuesday is expected to stress economic risks to the state and to reiterate calls for bipartisan cooperation to prevent disruption to state services and investments in infrastructure and public safety.