Governor Heads To Luxembourg, Speaker Wants Her In Town

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 06/17/2026) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Wednesday she is wrapping up her defense conference in Paris this week before heading to Luxembourg and Belgium, as House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) told reporters that legislative leaders need Whitmer in town to finish the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget on time.

“We're in too formative of a stage for her to be out of the state right now if we're really going to get it done by July 1," he said. “What we've seen is that with the communication from her limited, the administration is . . . in a holding pattern on the budget.”

According to the Governor's office, the Governor and Speaker did talk on Wednesday.

Hall's comments come on top of similar concerns from House Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Matt Maddock (R-Milford), who issued a press release saying that the state is 15 days away from deadline and Whitmer is “AWOL yet again, spending nearly half of the time between now and then overseas on her third European excursion of the year and holding up budget negotiations.”

Appropriations member Rep. Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) added: "We don’t have time for state-funded croissant tastings or TikTok videos in front of the Eiffel Tower. The governor still has 6 months left on her term. She needs to get back to Michigan and do her job. There will be plenty of time to jockey for ambassadorship to Luxembourg in January.”

The situation is markedly different from last September when Hall was working with Whitmer on a road deal. At that time, he said he didn't have any problem getting a hold of the Governor.

“The Governor has taken a few trips during the budget conversations,” Hall said during his Aug. 21 press conference when told the Governor was going to Japan in the coming days. “I’ve found her to be very available and engaged, talking to me when she’s on those trips.”

On Aug. 25, before she took off for Japan, Whitmer said, "I'm never hard to get a hold of. I have been ready to negotiate a budget since I introduced the budget seven months ago, and while you know we still have time to get it done and have a negotiated budget, time is running out," she said.

This time is different. There's no road funding deal to work out. Instead, the Governor is pushing to find a long-term funding solution to pending Medicaid cuts while the Speaker wants property tax cuts on the table, although the administration notes that without the House having passed a backfill to the $5 billion from the budget, it's tough to negotiate.

Lately, the Speaker has mentioned the idea of doing a four-month continuation budget, as is done in Washington, D.C.

The other difference is the clock. Back then, there was a month before the Sept. 30 deadline. Now, there are two weeks and subcommittee chairs are in a position to move on their department budgets. They are awaiting the final deal among the principals.

“We're waiting for the Governor to re-engage, to see if we can hammer out those big things,” Hall said. “Then the subcommittee chairs have to work on the details. This is where things get taken out of context by Democrats. I'm trying to put solutions on the table (because) we're really squeezing the window to actually getting this done by July 1.”

The statutory deadline for the Legislature to pass and present general appropriation bills for the upcoming fiscal year to the governor is July 1, something that's met off and on.

MIRS has learned that House Republicans sent a framework of the budget to the Senate and the Governor's office on June 8 and since then there's “been plenty of back and forth” and “everyone has had proposals on the table,” according to a source. Budget Director Jen Flood is in town and working through the proposal, MIRS is told.

“Negotiations are ongoing and we have been meeting regularly with the legislature,” Flood said. "As soon as Speaker Hall moves away from his proposal to either blow a $5 billion hole in the School Aid Fund or raise $5 billion in taxes on working families, we will get a budget done quickly. Our focus remains passing a fiscal year 2027 budget ahead of the July 1 deadline that prioritizes investing in kids and protecting access to health care."

Meanwhile, in France, Whitmer said she met with representatives of Saab Inc., American Rheinmetall Michigan, and RENK Group while she attended Eurosatory, a defense conference held in Paris.

“At Eurosatory, I was proud to meet with leaders from companies that are choosing to invest and grow in Michigan, creating hundreds of good-paying jobs and strengthening our leadership in defense, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing,” Whitmer said.