LANSING – Enacting a series of what Republicans acknowledged were unpleasant cuts, the Michigan Senate approved some of the largest budgets for the 2009-10 fiscal year, putting them into position for action in conference committee.

The budget for the Department of Community Health (HB 4436 , passed 20-16) became the focus of Democratic efforts to pare back some of the more dramatic cuts majority Republicans proposed. But nearly every one of the 18-some amendments proposed was rejected on a generally party-line vote.

The state was faced, said Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw Twp.), with the need to either raise taxes or make unpleasant cuts.

The Senate did add language in some areas of the DCH to create placeholders so discussions on areas such as child health centers could continue.

But Democrats called those amendments largely well meaning and useless.

Sen. Deborah Cherry (D-Burton) charged that the Senate was attempting to balance all the budgets, no matter their topic, on the backs of the state’s children.

And the cumulative budget cuts were so painful to her, and took the state so far in the wrong direction, that she announced she was resigning from the Legislative Children’s Caucus.

The budgets did not just deal with cuts, but included some lectures on how the state makes decisions and who would have to face the effects of those decisions. That was largely the story of the Department of Corrections budget (HB 4437 )

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SCHOOL AID: What has always been the state’s largest budget actually falls to second place after Department of Community Health, as HB 4447 will total $12.7 billion.

The Senate version of the budget is $627.9 million less than the current year’s appropriation, and was blasted by Democrats as hurting the chances of the state’s children, especially poor children, to succeed in school.

As they did with the DCH budget, Democrats attempted numerous amendments to restore cuts and all failed.

The budget includes a $110 cut per student in the foundation grant.

Also eliminated are school readiness grants totaling $103.5 million, special and vocational education millage equalization grants totaling $45.9 million, declining enrollment grants at $20 million, the remaining $8 million that would have gone for small high school projects, and a host of other categorical grants that schools have used to boost math skills, bilingual education, transportation needs, bus inspections, and pre-college engineering training.

The budget passed on a 20-15 vote.

Brater said she did not oppose combining the two departments, but the measure did not allocate enough money for the state to oversee critical environmental protection issues.

The budget allocates a total of $623.9 million for the two combined departments, $36.5 million in general funds.

The measure also includes Granholm’s major environmental proposal in her budget recommendation, to end the state’s oversight of wetlands and turn that over to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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