LANSING, Mich. — State Sen. Dan Lauwers, R-Brockway Township, on Friday issued the following statement after the Legislature’s completion of the fiscal year 2026 budget:

“Current leadership wasted countless hours on untimely legislation instead of completing our constitutional duty to finish a state budget on time.

“While the deadline has come and gone after months of wasted time by the current Senate majority, my Republican colleagues in the House and Senate fought to reel in wasteful spending — and the end result was a final budget that, for the first time in years, came in less than the previous fiscal year. We cut spending, eliminated taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security income, and forced legislative spending requests to be public to let taxpayers know who requested the funding and where it is being spent.

“Every single family in this state has to live on a budget. Working families and small businesses don’t have a magic button they can press for more money, and the state Legislature shouldn’t either. We cannot continue looking to taxpayers as an ever-growing revenue source, and it’s about time we cut spending to live within our means and focus on what matters most: strong support for our schools, focusing on statewide priorities instead of pork projects, a meaningful increase in road funding, and creating a more transparent budget process.

“This was a long, overdue vote that took months of hard work and negotiating, but I’m glad we were able to reach an agreement that finally puts taxpayers first.”

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