LANSING – Road funding talks that officials had said for some time had been going productively suddenly broke down today with Governor Rick Snyder and a spokesperson for House Speaker Kevin Cotter saying the discussions had reached an “impasse.”

“We had made a lot of progress in prior meetings. We’re at an impasse now,” Snyder said.

Cotter spokesperson Gideon D’Assandro said despite the impasse, Cotter (R-Mount Pleasant) hopes productive discussions can resume.

Republicans said Democratic legislative leaders’ resistance to the inclusion of income tax relief as part of the road funding package brought about the impasse. Snyder declined to discuss details of the meeting but said it was “fair to say people have different perspectives as to what tax relief might look like.”

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof (R-West Olive) said she was surprised at the characterization of the talks as an impasse.

“The majority leader’s still hopeful we can salvage this,” said Amber McCann.

However, McCann said of today’s meeting: “I think in general the meeting didn’t go as hoped for in terms of progress.”

Snyder said the quadrant is scheduled to meet again Wednesday, but that meeting may not happen.

“Unless I see progress, I’m not going to schedule more,” he said.

Responses from Democratic spokespersons on the question of the role any Democratic resistance to income tax relief in the package played in today’s meeting going poorly could not immediately be obtained.

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