Michigan House members get paid a tidy some of moola and part of their job is to debate the issues. House Republicans argue they are more than willing to debate but the democrats are shutting them off.

"We've had a issue throughout the year. We've had difficulty getting that voice heard," gripes the guy who runs the House GOP caucus.

Since January Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer (R- Kewadin) has been trying to play nice with his democratic counterpart House Speaker Andy Dillon. Frankly it's been a refreshing break from the Dillon/Craig DeRoche relationship which was hardly a match made in heaven. Just ask Dillon about the fo rmer Oakland County House GOP honcho.

But Elsenheimer's patience is frazzled and it showed the other day on the floor as he had an exchange" with the democratic floor leader. Rep. Kathy Angerer (D-Dundee) told him that Oakland County Rep. Tom McMillan would be muzzled during debate over the Ford Wixom plant revival tax credit.

McMillan wanted to dump on the project. He never got the chance, but after repub licans griped, Angerer and company relented and allowed one republican to actually debate the $100 million tax break on the floor.

After Rep. Justin Amash (R-Kentwood) spoke for about five minutes, the debate was over, the house passed the bill and Elsenheimer was left to count the tire treads on his back from the Democratic truck that just ran him over...again.

He warns that September is going to be a tough month with the budget crunch and government shutdown loaming and the way he figures it, these "petty issues" might get in the way of bipartisan cooperation on turning the state's red ink into black.

Wise man that Mr. Elsenheimer.