State Rep. John Roth on Thursday voted against the fiscal year 2025 budget which was steamrolled through the House in the early hours of the morning. The partisan budget includes hardly any dedicated funding for Northern Michigan, hundreds of new state employees, and taxpayer-funded legal services for illegal immigrants.

The budget includes hundreds of millions in funding for special projects. These projects include $17 million for zoos in Lansing and metro Detroit, $2 million for a boxing gym, $5 million for a movie theater, and more than $18 million for baseball stadiums. Roth noted that of the 200 enhancement grants, only 12 of the recipients could be considered up north, and of the critical infrastructure grants, only 2 recipients would be north of Grand Rapids.

“If Northern Michigan got screwed last year, they took an automatic drill and drove that thing right through our hearts with this failure of a budget,” said Roth, R-Interlochen. “We don’t want special treatment, but we do want Northern Michigan to receive the same dedicated funding that places like Detroit and Grand Rapids get. Democrats prove they simply don’t care about their neighbors to the north as they literally pretended like we don’t exist while they spend our money.”

The Labor and Economic Opportunity budget includes $1 million for illegal immigrants to hire taxpayer-funded attorneys. The Democrats also approved an undesignated amount of funding to support the Office of Global Michigan, which is facing scrutiny for giving hand-outs to illegal immigrants. The budget also includes over 500 new full-time state employees.

“I’m starting to believe the governor and Lansing Democrats would give taxpayer dollars to tourists before they do anything for Northern Michigan,” Roth said. “Illegal immigrants aren’t supposed to be here, yet this budget forces taxpayers to foot the bill for legal services for people who are actively breaking our laws. I came to Lansing to make things better, and that won’t happen until my community and the rest of rural Michigan get the funding they deserve.”

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