Last year, Storm Frank fought to overcome homelessness and poverty to graduate high school. Our entire community rallied around the teenager to make her dream of attending college a reality.

Now, the 18-year-old freshman at Adrian College will likely be forced to drop out at the end of the semester after Gov. Whitmer vetoed funding for the Michigan Tuition Grant program. Even though Storm works long hours at a local fast food restaurant in between classes – and rides a bike, foregoing a car to save money – she can’t afford the $2,400 needed to make up for the loss of the scholarship she had been awarded.

I was surprised and disappointed at our governor’s decision to cut this important program from the budget. The state made a commitment to grant financial assistance to Storm and thousands of other students like her who attend independent colleges in our state. Now, Gov. Whitmer has taken away the funding they were counting on in an attempt to punish her political opponents because she didn’t get her massive gas tax increase.

Unfortunately, the people hurt most by the governor’s 147 line-item vetoes are not politicians. They’re the struggling students, seniors with Alzheimer’s, children with autism, and families with members battling opioid addiction. She gutted public safety and education programs our families, friends and neighbors rely on every single day.

Sadly, this is what happens when career politicians get so caught up in their personal agendas they lose sight of what matters most. The governor used people in need as pawns to try and force the Legislature to approve a gas tax increase Michigan doesn’t want or need.
None of the cuts the governor made were necessary to balance the budget. The programs approved by the Legislature all are funded with available or anticipated funds without relying on tax increases of any kind.

It’s clear that governor’s desire to raise Michigan’s gas tax by 45 cents a gallon outweighs her concern for the state’s most vulnerable residents.

The governor’s desperate attempts to generate support for her massive tax increase won’t work, and she needs to undo the damage her vetoes have done before it’s too late. That’s why I recently joined my colleagues in the Legislature to introduce 23 proposals to restore funding for some of these critical state services, including the restoration of the Michigan Tuition Grant Program. If passed into law, the plan will return money for rural schools, critical access hospitals, charter schools, autism programming, public safety, senior citizens and the Michigan Tuition Grant program.

Our most vulnerable shouldn’t be treated as political bargaining chips. I will continue to work hard for the people of Lenawee County to find solutions that put Storm and others like her ahead of politics.

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