State Rep. Brian BeGole today supported actions the House Appropriations Committee took this week to stop wasteful spending and further overhaul the state’s process for earmarks.

The House Appropriations Committee voted to pause funding for numerous projects within the 2025 fiscal year budget. Over $600 million in project funding will be reviewed.

“Through our budget agreement and transparency reforms that were recently signed into law, we were able to closely look at funding requests and make sure they were a good use of tax dollars and money would actually go where it was intended,” BeGole said. “Many of these projects we will be looking at have not even received money yet from the state since that budget was signed over a year ago and it’s not really known why,” BeGole said. “It just continues to sit in the state’s coffers. This is money that should be going to improving our communities and helping families, not serving as a slush fund for Democrat pet projects and state departments.”

BeGole underscored funding within several controversial programs that will be reviewed, such as initiatives that assist illegal aliens and encourage kids to report their parents for potential firearm storage violations, a program that would’ve paid to put tampons in boys bathrooms, a radical green energy push tied to economic development, renovations for multiple private baseball stadiums, ineffective IT projects, and more. There are also several “emergency” funding projects, but those dollars have not yet been used more than a year later despite being initially approved under urgent circumstances.

“People have been wanting Republicans to fight harder to protect their tax dollars, and that’s what they’re seeing from this Legislature,” BeGole said. “We are using every tool we can to deliver on our mission for Michigan workers, families and taxpayers.”