Speaker Hall's How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall cancels $645 million in State spending.
Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall shocked Lansing on Wednesday when he used a little-known tool to unilaterally cancel $645 million in State spending. This spending included various State fiscal year 2025 appropriations not fully spent when the fiscal year ended September 30, which the Whitmer Administration requested be extended through “work project” designations, usually a routine matter to carry forward unspent balances to the next fiscal year.
What’s a “Work Project”?
A work project designation allows a State appropriation to continue for more than one fiscal year. Ordinarily, appropriations expire at the end of each fiscal year. “Work projects” are the term used in Michigan for spending items that take longer than one year to completely spend down. They must be for a specific purpose, not general State government operations. A work project extends the life of the appropriation long enough for the project to be completed. This is normal practice across the country, albeit with some discretion.
The Michigan legislature routinely includes various work project designations in the original budget itself. Per the Management and Budget Act, the State Budget Director can also request such designations for various other appropriations before they close out the fiscal year. For the State fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, that was the request before the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday, which they partially rejected.
So what did the House cut?
The House effectively rescinded $645 million of State fiscal year 2025 appropriations. This included multi-year projects already underway. It included $184 million for Community Enhancement Grants, Infrastructure Grants, Museum Grants, and Symphony Grants (i.e., earmarks across both Democratic and Republican districts). It also included $159 million for the Make it in Michigan Competitive Fund for economic development, $50 million for indigent defense, $31.5 million for state technology investments, and $18.5 million for the Rx Kids prenatal and infant cash support program. You can download the full list of cuts here:
Dude, where’s my earmark?
Cancelling these work projects was highly unusual. It is unclear what all was cut when you dig below the line-item level. It was not a transparent process. The State Budget Office’s request for work project designations was dated 11/14/25. Grantee spending is ongoing. The downloadable list below includes $244 million worth of earmark grant balances as of 8/31/25, at risk. At least $120 million was cut. There is a separate list below for the $102 million worth of Infrastructure Grants at risk, of which over $63 million was cut. We do not know exactly which projects are cut. The list includes $53 million for Detroit, $47 million for Lansing, $18 million for Grand Rapids, among many others. Even nearly $700,000 for my hometown Sault Sainte Marie is at risk. Most, but not all, of these balances were included in the cuts this week. If one of your grants is on the list or you’re concerned generally, you should check on your state grant status immediately.
Bottom Line: While Speaker Hall initially referred to these cuts as eliminating departmental “slush funds” and “waste, fraud and abuse,” he ultimately conceded this is all about leverage. Both chambers must now pass a supplemental appropriations bill to restore some or all of these funds.
Leverage in politics is not new, but as we’ve seen this past year in Washington, it doesn’t work well when one side doesn’t act in good faith. Why should one side agree to a budget deal if the other side can unilaterally cancel it later. In Michigan we’re now seeing flexes around “work project” designations. In Congress, we’re seeing “recissions” upending previous budget compromises.
This is not how governing should work.