October 6, 2025 • 14 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into the conversation today about the budget, specifically State Rep.
Joseph Fox, no stranger to the program, always appreciates you
being here with us today, Sir, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's very good to be here with you, justin and
thanks for the opportunity to share about the budget and
to share about my up and coming campaign.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That's right ronning for Senate. We're going to get into
all these things, but first you have major news on
this budget, some really good things. We just went to you.
Why don't you walk us through some things you're most
excited about.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, I'm most excited about the cutting of waste, fraud
and abuse in our state. Like you said already, we're
eliminating taxes on tips, taxes on overtime pay, and it
will be a reduced tax, especially on Social Security. I
would encourage you to talk to your tax person about
(00:52):
the Social Security piece. We have eliminated two thousand ghost
jobs other words, easier jobs, FTEs, full time equivalents that
have been put in past budgets but now are being
taken out because those funds were just simply going into
(01:13):
the budgets of the various bureaus. But the funds were
not being spent, and in fact, they probably were being
re routed to other areas.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
We go ahead, No, that's fantastic, not to interrupt at all.
But but wait, there's more, Like they said the infomersals, right.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, there's lots more. We have set aside two billion
dollars for roads, and this is uh, you know, the
governor has this has been her major connection to our
budget talks because, as you know, she wants to fix
(01:53):
the darn roads and most of that money here, a
big percentage of that money, i should say, is going
to heard the more rural situations. The thing I'm most
excited about is that we sat in place a transparency
plan for ear marks. And when you hear the word earmarked,
(02:13):
kind of thing pork. And it's without question that the
Democrats have shown themselves through this budget process as being
addicted to pork. But what we did is we started
way back in the spring requiring that anybody who wanted
to get an ear mark had to do an application
(02:34):
online with their name, with their plan, and that it
had to be clearly laid out what was wanted, what
was expected, And all of those ear marks went online
and so anybody in the state could look at them,
and at that point in time there were over eight
or eight hundred of them submitted. Long story short. Then
(02:57):
we all had to go through interviews based on these earmarks,
and there was no way that you could get any
port or any special monies unless you had gone through
this process first applied, then gone through the interview, and
then allowed it to be evaluated. But the exciting thing
is is that this is going to be put into
(03:19):
our standards for making budgets into the future. You'll see
a bill coming up in the future that will focus
just on this idea of transparency of ear marks. Going
on down the page, we have reduced the overall size
of state government since Governor Whittmer came into office. Our
(03:41):
state government has grown by approximately forty three percent. Last year,
our budget was approximately eighty three billion. This year it's
gone down to less than or our right balanced around
eighty one billion. We do have plans in place that
(04:01):
can continue to reduce that budget. There was lots of
talk about what's going to happen with schools. We have
put forth a record additional four hundred and forty two
dollars more per student with the foundation allowance being ten
thousand and fifty dollars per student, and you know this
(04:27):
has not gone gone up significantly in the last couple
of years. But included in this are the categoricals for
transportation and other special programs that the schools like to
see in the budget. Rep.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Sh also fox with us right now and going through
some of these, uh, some of these big pieces of
the budget. We heard a lot of back and forth
on this. What did it take to get to get
this done? Because I know that you all in the
House this this this was done a while ago, working
together to make sure that it was passed. Obviously, the
(05:04):
Senate had to come together on this, very similar to
what we're watching play out now at the federal level.
Can you walk us through what that process was like?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, good question. Really, we had a school budget done
already back in June, and you know it then went
to the to the Senate for them to look at
and didn't get touched until during the last couple of weeks.
We put forth our total budget they call it the
(05:36):
omnibus budget in early September, but again laid on the
desks in the Senate. And so it was the process
of going through and figuring out number one where the
Dems wanted to add and our governor wanted to add
(05:56):
more taxes. Well, we said, okay, so what don't we
put it on marijuana? And we've seen more than one
protest about this at the Capitol, but it was decided,
and this was a bipartisan decision, that we would tax
marijuana at twenty four percent wholesale and that boosted our income.
(06:23):
We also took a look at every place where, like
I mentioned already with the ghost jobs, any other places
where we could drag back funds and not misspend them.
For example, we closed down as part of this budget,
we've closed down the sore account, so ar that's strategic.
(06:45):
Now this is operating fund.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yes, this is big one, and I know you've been
right in the middle of it. But like some of
these projects like Ghoshen et cetera, this is Explain what
the sore fund is so that people under This is
kind of like the corporate welfare stuff that's been happening
behind the scenes and making things really bad for folks.
Explain what that is and why that's so important here.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, and it's good you use the word corporate welfare
because that's exactly what the Sore Fund does is it's
a pool of money that has grown, and it's grown
into a spot where where it's the governor that makes
decisions about how it can be spent. And like you
(07:29):
mentioned already, some of that money has been spent in
places that the people of Michigan that we the people.
It's been spent where we would not want to spend it,
and for example, Goshen. I think that again hats off
to those grassroots people in that big rapids area who
(07:52):
fought against Goshen and to all practical purposes. Goshen is
now dead and the Sore Fund is soon going to
be buried along with it.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I think there are a lot of folks that will
be celebrating that, and especially once they really start to
understand the significance of that some of these real like
sort of scam projects that they were trying to get past.
It's it's been a real, a real problem. Hang on
one second, folks, because Rep. Joseph Fox is with us
(08:27):
right now. He's running for senate here in Michigan. We've
been talking about the budget this morning, and I want
to continue talking with him, but he's running for senate.
Want to give him a chance to make that pitch
and also to let you know where you can find
out more. Yeah, we are fired up and rolling full
speed along.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Rep.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Joe Fox is running for Senate here in Michigan. In fact,
he just filled us in on some of the issues
of the budget. May get some more questions answered her,
but making the leap to the Senate tell us, lots
of folks in your neck of the woods already know
you're very familiar with you, But the Senate, it's a
little bit of a different district. Sure, why is so
(09:08):
important for you and and really for your mission here
in Michigan.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, yeah, I am running for the thirty third Senate district.
The current senators state senator there is retiring, so looking
to replace him. And this new district, yes, is about
three times as large as a house district. It includes
all of Noego County, all of Montcalm County, three fourths
(09:40):
of Lake County, three fourths of Ionia County, ten townships,
the northern part of Kent County, and three townships in
Muskegan and one township in Ottawa. So it's more shaped
like a boomerang. And the way it goes. But yes,
(10:00):
I am continuing with my focus on faith, family and freedom,
and also I include another F Farming. What I often
say is if you hear the letter F, think fox.
So you know I am a person of you know,
(10:21):
having been married for over forty years, I'm having a
family of four kids. I now have number fourteen grandchild
on the way, So just hear all the f's and family.
I'm serving on the Family and Veterans Committee along with
the Education Committee, and with my twenty five years in
(10:42):
Christian education, you know, those type of things are are
being very helpful. Along with being a director of the
Commission on Aging here in Nwego County for a few years.
It's it's a really good thing with freedom. I am
serving on in particular the Election Integrity Committee, and I
(11:03):
would say to people that if you want to bring
yourself get yourself updated, go to the Michigan State House
of Representatives archives and look at all the testimony we've had.
We currently have our Secretary of State in a court case.
(11:24):
We are joining up with what the federal is doing
with a desire to be transparent about our qualified voter file.
And again and again we've heard testimony on that so
fighting for our freedom that's found in voting. And finally,
the thing I always like to say is I'm a patriot,
(11:45):
not a politician. Politicians are most concerned about the next election.
They're very willing to say what they think you want
to hear. They're even very willing to change their addresses
to get into a place where they think they can
be better elected. But long story short, I'm a patriot,
(12:06):
and patriots, I believe, are concerned about the next generation.
And for me, the passage that the Lord has given
me for this run is Psalm seventy one eighteen. And
I always like to make sure that my gray hair shows.
And I'm talking about this because the verse begins with
(12:27):
even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me,
Oh God, till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come. And this
is the calling that I believe the Lord is late
in my life in this thirty third Senate District race.
(12:47):
It's not for my glory, It's for the Lord's glory.
And I want to declare his power, his might to
the next generation and to join Charlie Kirk, to join Trump,
to join other patriots in fighting for faith and family
and freedom. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Stay Rob Joe Fox run I first Senate. If you
want to find out more, vote Joseph Fox dot com.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
We appreciate that, and I do have it coming up,
just so you know, meet and greet on the fourteenth.
They're in Grand Rapids at the Kent County GOP headquarters.
I'm sure you can go to their website. So it's Tuesday,
October fourteenth, six to eight pm. And then I have
(13:38):
also a campaign kickoff at ant Bell's Kitchen, which is
just south of Bostwick Lake. They're in northern Kent County
and that's six to eight on Thursday the sixteenth. And
in both those situations, we're also going to be remembering
Charlie Kirk's birthday. I know we have a special cake
(14:00):
especially at that gathering on the sixteenth. They're south of
Bostwick Lake, east of Rockford, so I hope that people
can come and join in.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Thank you so much appreciation. I appreciate it again. Vote
Joseph Fox dot com is the website
Welcome into the conversation today about the budget, specifically State Rep.
Joseph Fox, no stranger to the program, always appreciates you
being here with us today, Sir, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's very good to be here with you, justin and
thanks for the opportunity to share about the budget and
to share about my up and coming campaign.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That's right ronning for Senate. We're going to get into
all these things, but first you have major news on
this budget, some really good things. We just went to you.
Why don't you walk us through some things you're most
excited about.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, I'm most excited about the cutting of waste, fraud
and abuse in our state. Like you said already, we're
eliminating taxes on tips, taxes on overtime pay, and it
will be a reduced tax, especially on Social Security. I
would encourage you to talk to your tax person about
(00:52):
the Social Security piece. We have eliminated two thousand ghost
jobs other words, easier jobs, FTEs, full time equivalents that
have been put in past budgets but now are being
taken out because those funds were just simply going into
(01:13):
the budgets of the various bureaus. But the funds were
not being spent, and in fact, they probably were being
re routed to other areas.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
We go ahead, No, that's fantastic, not to interrupt at all.
But but wait, there's more, Like they said the infomersals, right.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, there's lots more. We have set aside two billion
dollars for roads, and this is uh, you know, the
governor has this has been her major connection to our
budget talks because, as you know, she wants to fix
(01:53):
the darn roads and most of that money here, a
big percentage of that money, i should say, is going
to heard the more rural situations. The thing I'm most
excited about is that we sat in place a transparency
plan for ear marks. And when you hear the word earmarked,
(02:13):
kind of thing pork. And it's without question that the
Democrats have shown themselves through this budget process as being
addicted to pork. But what we did is we started
way back in the spring requiring that anybody who wanted
to get an ear mark had to do an application
(02:34):
online with their name, with their plan, and that it
had to be clearly laid out what was wanted, what
was expected, And all of those ear marks went online
and so anybody in the state could look at them,
and at that point in time there were over eight
or eight hundred of them submitted. Long story short. Then
(02:57):
we all had to go through interviews based on these earmarks,
and there was no way that you could get any
port or any special monies unless you had gone through
this process first applied, then gone through the interview, and
then allowed it to be evaluated. But the exciting thing
is is that this is going to be put into
(03:19):
our standards for making budgets into the future. You'll see
a bill coming up in the future that will focus
just on this idea of transparency of ear marks. Going
on down the page, we have reduced the overall size
of state government since Governor Whittmer came into office. Our
(03:41):
state government has grown by approximately forty three percent. Last year,
our budget was approximately eighty three billion. This year it's
gone down to less than or our right balanced around
eighty one billion. We do have plans in place that
(04:01):
can continue to reduce that budget. There was lots of
talk about what's going to happen with schools. We have
put forth a record additional four hundred and forty two
dollars more per student with the foundation allowance being ten
thousand and fifty dollars per student, and you know this
(04:27):
has not gone gone up significantly in the last couple
of years. But included in this are the categoricals for
transportation and other special programs that the schools like to
see in the budget. Rep.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Sh also fox with us right now and going through
some of these, uh, some of these big pieces of
the budget. We heard a lot of back and forth
on this. What did it take to get to get
this done? Because I know that you all in the
House this this this was done a while ago, working
together to make sure that it was passed. Obviously, the
(05:04):
Senate had to come together on this, very similar to
what we're watching play out now at the federal level.
Can you walk us through what that process was like?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, good question. Really, we had a school budget done
already back in June, and you know it then went
to the to the Senate for them to look at
and didn't get touched until during the last couple of weeks.
We put forth our total budget they call it the
(05:36):
omnibus budget in early September, but again laid on the
desks in the Senate. And so it was the process
of going through and figuring out number one where the
Dems wanted to add and our governor wanted to add
(05:56):
more taxes. Well, we said, okay, so what don't we
put it on marijuana? And we've seen more than one
protest about this at the Capitol, but it was decided,
and this was a bipartisan decision, that we would tax
marijuana at twenty four percent wholesale and that boosted our income.
(06:23):
We also took a look at every place where, like
I mentioned already with the ghost jobs, any other places
where we could drag back funds and not misspend them.
For example, we closed down as part of this budget,
we've closed down the sore account, so ar that's strategic.
(06:45):
Now this is operating fund.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yes, this is big one, and I know you've been
right in the middle of it. But like some of
these projects like Ghoshen et cetera, this is Explain what
the sore fund is so that people under This is
kind of like the corporate welfare stuff that's been happening
behind the scenes and making things really bad for folks.
Explain what that is and why that's so important here.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, and it's good you use the word corporate welfare
because that's exactly what the Sore Fund does is it's
a pool of money that has grown, and it's grown
into a spot where where it's the governor that makes
decisions about how it can be spent. And like you
(07:29):
mentioned already, some of that money has been spent in
places that the people of Michigan that we the people.
It's been spent where we would not want to spend it,
and for example, Goshen. I think that again hats off
to those grassroots people in that big rapids area who
(07:52):
fought against Goshen and to all practical purposes. Goshen is
now dead and the Sore Fund is soon going to
be buried along with it.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I think there are a lot of folks that will
be celebrating that, and especially once they really start to
understand the significance of that some of these real like
sort of scam projects that they were trying to get past.
It's it's been a real, a real problem. Hang on
one second, folks, because Rep. Joseph Fox is with us
(08:27):
right now. He's running for senate here in Michigan. We've
been talking about the budget this morning, and I want
to continue talking with him, but he's running for senate.
Want to give him a chance to make that pitch
and also to let you know where you can find
out more. Yeah, we are fired up and rolling full
speed along.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Rep.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Joe Fox is running for Senate here in Michigan. In fact,
he just filled us in on some of the issues
of the budget. May get some more questions answered her,
but making the leap to the Senate tell us, lots
of folks in your neck of the woods already know
you're very familiar with you, But the Senate, it's a
little bit of a different district. Sure, why is so
(09:08):
important for you and and really for your mission here
in Michigan.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, yeah, I am running for the thirty third Senate district.
The current senators state senator there is retiring, so looking
to replace him. And this new district, yes, is about
three times as large as a house district. It includes
all of Noego County, all of Montcalm County, three fourths
(09:40):
of Lake County, three fourths of Ionia County, ten townships,
the northern part of Kent County, and three townships in
Muskegan and one township in Ottawa. So it's more shaped
like a boomerang. And the way it goes. But yes,
(10:00):
I am continuing with my focus on faith, family and freedom,
and also I include another F Farming. What I often
say is if you hear the letter F, think fox.
So you know I am a person of you know,
(10:21):
having been married for over forty years, I'm having a
family of four kids. I now have number fourteen grandchild
on the way, So just hear all the f's and family.
I'm serving on the Family and Veterans Committee along with
the Education Committee, and with my twenty five years in
(10:42):
Christian education, you know, those type of things are are
being very helpful. Along with being a director of the
Commission on Aging here in Nwego County for a few years.
It's it's a really good thing with freedom. I am
serving on in particular the Election Integrity Committee, and I
(11:03):
would say to people that if you want to bring
yourself get yourself updated, go to the Michigan State House
of Representatives archives and look at all the testimony we've had.
We currently have our Secretary of State in a court case.
(11:24):
We are joining up with what the federal is doing
with a desire to be transparent about our qualified voter file.
And again and again we've heard testimony on that so
fighting for our freedom that's found in voting. And finally,
the thing I always like to say is I'm a patriot,
(11:45):
not a politician. Politicians are most concerned about the next election.
They're very willing to say what they think you want
to hear. They're even very willing to change their addresses
to get into a place where they think they can
be better elected. But long story short, I'm a patriot,
(12:06):
and patriots, I believe, are concerned about the next generation.
And for me, the passage that the Lord has given
me for this run is Psalm seventy one eighteen. And
I always like to make sure that my gray hair shows.
And I'm talking about this because the verse begins with
(12:27):
even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me,
Oh God, till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come. And this
is the calling that I believe the Lord is late
in my life in this thirty third Senate District race.
(12:47):
It's not for my glory, It's for the Lord's glory.
And I want to declare his power, his might to
the next generation and to join Charlie Kirk, to join Trump,
to join other patriots in fighting for faith and family
and freedom. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Stay Rob Joe Fox run I first Senate. If you
want to find out more, vote Joseph Fox dot com.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
We appreciate that, and I do have it coming up,
just so you know, meet and greet on the fourteenth.
They're in Grand Rapids at the Kent County GOP headquarters.
I'm sure you can go to their website. So it's Tuesday,
October fourteenth, six to eight pm. And then I have
(13:38):
also a campaign kickoff at ant Bell's Kitchen, which is
just south of Bostwick Lake. They're in northern Kent County
and that's six to eight on Thursday the sixteenth. And
in both those situations, we're also going to be remembering
Charlie Kirk's birthday. I know we have a special cake
(14:00):
especially at that gathering on the sixteenth. They're south of
Bostwick Lake, east of Rockford, so I hope that people
can come and join in.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Thank you so much appreciation. I appreciate it again. Vote
Joseph Fox dot com is the website
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