They know their "plan" couldn't survive under the public eye, so they are rushing these cuts through in the dead of night before anyone could have a chance to review or discuss them.
Republican "leadership" in action.
Senate Republicans on Thursday passed a $34-per-student cut for schools, then proposed hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to local governments, community corrections, health care and other programs after deciding Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed spending rollbacks didn't go far enough.
They wrote these bills on the spot.
Senate Republicans didn't come out with their final list of $255.3 million in cuts and other changes until 7:30 p.m. Thursday, drawing the ire of Democrats who said they were being given no time to study the cuts before being forced to vote on them.
And what was that about Bishop being "happy to share" his plan?
It was the first time Senate Republicans had revealed their entire list of cuts after insisting that the shortfall be dealt with through spending cuts and other changes. The Democratic governor criticized Republicans for relying only on cuts and accounting changes to fill the gap, a criticism echoed Thursday night by Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor.
"I'm not surprised it took you so long to unveil these cuts," she told GOP senators. "I'd be embarrassed, too."
This is just another stunt, and a complete waste of time. There is no way these cuts make it through the House or the Governor. So, not only was this a cowardly way of doing the people's business, it was pretty pointless, too.
(Note- Sorry I'm not writing more; I'm thoroughly disgusted with these guys at this point. Beyond anger. Very sad, too, for my state. We deserve better. My only hope is the Democrats, the public, and the media take them to task for behaving like this.
My thanks go to the Governor and the Senate Democrats for hanging tough- stay strong everyone. This is going to be a very, very long year.)