By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-905367.mp3
LANSING, MI –
Less than a month remains for lawmakers to work out their differences over the state budget if they want to meet a self-imposed July 1 deadline.
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Lawmakers set the deadline to help school districts whose budget cycles begin in July.
Republicans and Democrats still have several large and lingering debates left before they'll be near a consensus on the budget. They include how the state will access federal money to help pay for bridges and roads, whether to cut funds for higher education, and how to draw down spending on the state's prison systems.
Republican state Representative John Proos.
"Every general fund dollar that is spent or overspent in the Department of Corrections ought to be looked at very carefully, and if that becomes the contentious part of this budget, that keeps us hear late at night, I'm willing to do that to make sure those taxpayers are being spent effectively," he says.
Legislators have to decide how to fill a multi-million dollar hole in the current general fund budget as well.