They are letting us speak from the floor again

After much pressure being applied, the party in control has agreed to let us speak to bills as they are being voted on. And we spoke with passion on the floor late last evening. They pushed through about $500 million in new taxes on business, in the form of cancelled tax incentives. These were incentives that were put in place as a way to lure new business investment in the state over the last several years. These incentives worked well, new jobs were created as a result of the relief that these tax breaks created.

But, feeding the monster that is state government has taken priority over inviting business to come to or stay in Michigan. As we argued on the floor that taking these incentives away would cost jobs, one of the Democrats countered that the state needs the revenue because police officers and teachers are "jobs, too" and we can't pay them without the revenue. What that good representative seems not to understand is that the private sector jobs create the revenue to pay for public sector jobs like teachers and state troopers.

Stay tuned for what might happen tonight. They called us into session at 1:30 and have had us sitting here ever since. No action, whatsoever. But, it will come, it's just a matter of time.