House Republican Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, on Wednesday issued the following statement after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s State of the State address:

“As she auditions for the national stage, Gov. Whitmer played all her greatest hits. But even all strung together in a primetime performance, her set-list clearly has no cohesive theme or plan for actually solving the problems in our state.

“The governor’s own hand-picked population council, which she touted tonight, issued a scathing report illuminating the failures of the Whitmer administration. First and foremost, she has no bold, coordinated economic growth plan. She loves to highlight one-off project announcements and ear-pleasing policy statements that will raise her national profile. But as Michiganders’ incomes fall to 39th in the nation and people move out of our state, we need a real strategy. Gov. Whitmer hasn’t led on this urgent need. She’s at least following my lead in calling for a tax credit to incentivize research and development careers in our state; spurring innovation should be a part of Michigan’s comprehensive growth strategy.

“Meanwhile, the governor and Democrat legislators have mindlessly spent the people’s money without any strategy. They even raised the income tax on Michiganders while pursuing wasteful, directionless spending on politically motivated pork projects. Budgets are about priorities, and Gretchen Whitmer has failed to prioritize our crumbling local roads in her massive budget. Five years into office, the governor who ran on fixing the roads still has no solution for our infrastructure needs, so all she can do is brag about going into debt for a program that does nothing for the county roads and city streets that are in the worst condition. Her own population council highlighted that ‘Without action, infrastructure outcomes are projected to decline.’

“Students’ education is also in decline. As the governor’s council noted, seven out of 10 Michigan students can’t read or do math proficiently, even as Democrats’ budget spent a record $21.5 billion on K-12 schools. Yet the governor has no plan to address student performance, and she has undermined education standards to reward her union boss allies.

“The equally divided Michigan House of Representatives is in shared power, and the people’s elected officials need to work together to craft a plan and solve our state’s greatest challenges. Now is the time for Gov. Whitmer to do her job and work with the Legislature on the issues that matter most.

“Tonight, the governor talked more about the Detroit Lions than any substantive plan to solve our state’s problems. When it comes to actually helping the people of Michigan, she is all roar and no bite.”

Prior to the speech, Hall laid out several major issues which Gov. Whitmer should work with Republicans to solve. The governor’s address ignored the real problems Hall had pointed out.