Michigan State of the State: Lawmakers react to Gov. Whitmer's address

LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivered her annual State of the State address Wednesday night, speaking to state lawmakers from the House of Representatives chamber.

What they're saying:

Meanwhile, Matt Hall, the new Republican Speaker of the House, had plenty to say after Whitmer’s 7th address. This one took place with the Republicans leading the House and the Democrats controlling the Senate. 

Whitmer called for a focus on:

• Longer-lasting road repair funding.
• Making education more affordable.
• Lowering the cost of living for Michiganders amid an uptick in inflation.
• The Trump Administration’s looming tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

"For me, I think we need to focus on the fundamentals - focusing on our existing businesses, rather than what the governor has done through her first six years, which is writing checks to big corporations," Hall said.

Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist drilled down on the process.

"I’ve been sitting at the table ready and waiting for Republicans to work with us the whole time I’ve been in office, and so we think this year should be no different," he said. "They can come to the table and work with us not only fund our infrastructure but to frankly fund our future."

Dig deeper:

Much of Whitmer’s speech centered around fixing roads as she says, calling for new revenue which could mean more taxes, saying Michigan cannot cut its way to better roads by slashing public safety, health or schools.

"So, this is something where we are going to have to put all of our political leanings aside and come together," said State Sen. Mallory McMorrow. "Something that I am a little disappointed that I didn’t hear, particularly for Metro-Detroit was a mention of public transit. And that is something that as we think about roads, we have built so many more new miles of roads, but we haven’t the buses, trains - other ways for people to get around that could take some of the wear and tear off of those roads."

"I don’t believe that we should raise taxes," said Republican Donni Steele "I think that we should do better budgeting to be able to find road funding for our roads."

"There’s Governor Whitmer’s roads plan to raise taxes," Hall said. "And then there’s my roads plan, which shows how we can get it done without raising taxes, if we can prioritize roads over corporations."

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State of the State: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers annual address Wednesday night

This will be Whitmer's seventh speech since first becoming governor in 2019 and will include a wish list of goals she hopes to accomplish over the following year.