Whitmer on vetoing Republican budget bills: 'We'll see'

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was noncommittal about signing final spending bills that began advancing in the Republican-led Legislature on Thursday, a day after talks broke down between her and GOP leaders.

"We'll see," she said, hours before House-Senate conference committees approved six budget measures, including a $15.2 billion school aid budget. More of the Republican-controlled panels are scheduled to vote next week despite there being no overall deal with the first-year governor.

A budget must be enacted before Oct. 1 to avoid a partial government shutdown. If Whitmer signs whatever lawmakers send to her desk, she could still use her line-item veto power to nix specific spending and force GOP legislators back to the table.

Negotiations ended Wednesday after the sides disagreed over how much to direct to roads and bridges in the coming fiscal year. They had previously agreed to table talks on a long-term road-funding plan — Whitmer's proposed 45-cents-a-gallon fuel tax hike was rejected outright — until after finalizing the budget.

GOP Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey said Republicans proposed moving an additional $500 million in general funds to the transportation budget, which is already scheduled to receive additional income tax revenues under 2015 road-funding laws.

"We heard a very, very low number" back from the administration, he said. "Then we countered that with what we thought was a reasonable number, and then we got crickets."

Whitmer said infusing more one-time money into roads — a practice that has been used every year since the 2011-12 budget — "does not fix the problem. In fact, it makes it more expensive to do the work because it makes it more expensive to plan. ... This is the exact kind of gimmick that...