No Signs Leadership ‘Triangle’ Has Met Since July 1

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/06/2025) If the Governor, Senate Majority Leader and House Speaker have had face-to-face-to-face negotiations over the unresolved Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget since talks broke down July 1, no one is admitting it.

While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has met with each leader once a week since July 1 and staff are meeting almost daily, the three haven't sat down together to hammer out an agreement.

Asked Wednesday f it was fair to report that the leadership “triangle,” as Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) calls it, has met zero times in the last five weeks, Hall said, “I would say there are a lot of parallel conversations with the Governor, a lot of conversations with Brinks.”

In that respect, the Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids)’s office was in agreement.

“There are multiple discussions happening at every level. Work on the budget and other legislative items have been continuous,” said Brinks spokesperson Rosie Jones.

The primary source of contention, however, is that nobody knows what they’re negotiating over. The House hasn’t passed a general government spending budget for FY 2026 that shows how they plan on funding a $3.1 billion road plan and tax cuts without raising revenue.

“I will say it’s hard to discuss points of difference when House Republicans haven’t passed – or even presented -- their budget,” Jones said.

But Hall said during his hour-plus press conference on Wednesday that the Senate Democrats can’t rely on the budget they passed earlier this year either. Their numbers were based on January revenue projections, which slowed a bit according to the updated May numbers, the Speaker said.

On top of that, Hall said the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill” President Donald Trump signed into law last month may mean $1.1 billion in additional cuts, according to the Citizens Research Council (CRC).

“It’s out of whack,” Hall told reporters. “It’s billions of dollars different from the realities we face today. I look at it and say, ‘This isn’t even a document that we can use.’”

“What if I could pass a $100 billion budget?” he said. “I could bring it and say, ‘Let’s negotiate?' And what would the Democrats think? They would say, ‘This isn’t a real budget. There’s not $100 million to spend.’

"I don’t see a difference between that and their budget.”

The steps forward?

Hall said that based on House Fiscal Agency breakdowns of what the One Big Beautiful Bill means for the state budget, subcommittee chairs are crafting FY ’26 spending plans that will come out “soon.”

Reporters’ repeated attempts to better define “soon” were unsuccessful.

However, Hall has repeatedly said he wants to complete a budget by the “real” deadline of Sept. 30, the last day of FY ’25. Wednesday, he added, if legislative Democrats "empowered” Whitmer, a full compromise with the leadership triangle could be hammered out in a couple of weeks.

“It would be very easy, but they’re not empowering Governor Whitmer,” Hall said.

There are 55 days, or about eight weeks, between Aug. 6 and Sept. 30.