House D's To House Rs: Forget MAGA Members, Work With Us

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/23/2025) If House Republicans are being “held hostage” by the right wing of their caucus during budget making, then they can negotiate with House Democrats and get a budget done, said Rep. Joey Andrews (D-St. Joseph) Thursday during a press conference.

“They don’t have to negotiate with those 10 or 12 people in their caucus that are making them put all this nonsense up on the board because they’re running scared from that element in their electorate,” Andrews said. “They can come and negotiate with us at any time and we can get a budget done. They just have to decide who they'd rather negotiate with, people who represent about 50 percent of the state collectively or people who represent a tiny little portion of a tiny little portion of their party that they're all afraid of.”

Democrats suggest to House GOP you can negotiate with us rather than MAGA members

Rep. Morgan Foreman (D-Ann Arbor) said the public needs to put pressure on Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) to pass a budget since the governor and Senate majority leader are the same as last term and the only change is the House speaker.

“There’s only one piece of this puzzle that’s different, and it’s Matt Hall. So, if a budget doesn’t get passed on time, that’s on Matt Hall and the public needs to hold Matt Hall and the appropriations chair accountable at their coffee hours if they have them, at town halls if they ever have them,” Foreman said.

Foreman said while the governor and Senate have both put budgets forward, the only budget in the House “eviscerates most of our government.”

Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) said Hall has the power to waste taxpayer time and money and day after day, the House accomplishes “almost nothing” because House Republicans set the agenda.

While Rep. Kara Hope (D-Holt) said House Republicans should be asked about what needs to happen for a budget to pass since they hold all the cards, Minority Leader Ranjeev PURI (D-Canton) said he doesn’t think Hall has all the cards.

“Speaker Hall is not President Trump. Speaker Hall is not the Senate majority leader. Speaker Hall is not the governor. He’s just the speaker of the House. And when he looks in the mirror, if that hurts him to hear that, I think that’s the problem of why things aren’t moving,” Puri said.

Puri said Hall is holding Michiganders hostage to score brownie points with Trump, get on stage and get press. He said what needs to happen is for House Republicans to get a better understanding of what comes out of this chamber and how it’s going to be received in the Senate.

Puri said the House Democratic leadership team has hope and can change course and be better one week from now than they were today.

“We have that opportunity within ourselves and within this Legislature to change course…we are clearly in the minority in this term, but that does not mean we do not have the ability to come together to work with our Senate counterparts and have success,” Puri said.

Puri said unserious people in power leads to dangerous consequences, and he doesn’t see Hall’s approach as meeting the moment.

“As much as Matt Hall wants to scream into the abyss, what he says is not holy gospel. He cannot mathematically make Public Acts out of the Michigan House,” he said.