LANSING – Curbing the governor's powers to shift money within state departments must be part of any supplemental budget deal, GOP leaders said Thursday.

Republican legislative leaders made the comments at a breakfast meeting, shortly before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer met with what is known as "the quadrant" — the four House and Senate leaders from both political parties. No resolution to the impasse over the 2020 budget emerged from the meeting.

Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that without an agreement to curb Whitmer's powers to use the State Administrative Board to shift funds, the Republican-controlled Legislature will not approve a supplemental appropriation bill that would reverse some of the nearly $1 billion in spending items that Whitmer vetoed in an effort to start a new round of budget negotiations.

The vetoed spending affects a wide range of programs, including autism support services, the Pure Michigan tourism and branding campaign, and sheriff road patrols. Many of the vetoes, such as per-pupil spending increases for charter schools, appeared aimed at Republican priorities or Republican districts.

But Stamas and other Republican lawmakers said Thursday the bigger concern was more than $600 million in fund transfers that Whitmer made through the State Administrative Board, which currently is made up of Democratic elected officials and appointees.

Stamas said the budget shifts undermine legislative oversight and "until we can resolve that, there shouldn't be a lot of supplementals."

House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, who also spoke at the "Capitol Morning Brew" event in Lansing, sponsored by Dome Magazine, had a similar message.

"I cannot appropriate any more money and send it to the administration until I have some real assurances of how that money will be spent," Chatfield said.

He called for a cap on how much money could be transferred using State Administrative Board powers.

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Governors can't shift budget money from one department to another. It also has been rare for governors to use the State Administrative Board to shift funds within individual departments. The power had last been used by former Gov. John Engler, a Republican, until Whitmer, a Democrat, made record use of it Oct. 1 by making shifts within 13 different state agencies.

Whitmer has said she was forced to use the vetoes and fund transfers because Republicans did not negotiate with her before sending her the $59-billion budget and it had problems that would endanger public health and safety, such as not funding electronic tethers for the Department of Corrections or taking thousands of residents off of Medicaid.

Whitmer, speaking in Detroit on Thursday after the quadrant meeting, said she won't sign a bill that reduces executive powers.

“I’ve been pretty clear: I’m not going to abrogate executive authority, not for my administration or future administrations,” Whitmer said.

She said she is eager to engage in further talks with legislative leaders.

“If the Legislature wants to put a final point on this budget before they take their holiday breaks, I think we’ve got enough time to do it. I am optimistic that we’re up to it. We can address everything that has created consternation.”

A Whitmer spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about whether Whitmer would pledge not to use the State Administrative Board to shift funds allocated in a supplemental appropriation bill that was the result of negotiations with her.

In any case, many Republican leaders want to curb or eliminate the governor's powers to shift funds away from how they were specifically appropriated, beyond the current budget impasse and into the future.

Until then, "the budget is done," Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said Thursday, repeating a GOP refrain of recent weeks.

Many of the groups and local government agencies that would be impacted by the vetoes continued to take a wait-and-see approach Thursday.

One of the vetoes cut $250,000 for a "Buddy-to-Buddy" program that helps link military veterans with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) with other veterans for support.

"Because the process is ongoing, we're not prepared to comment right now," program administrator Bill Bryan said in a Thursday email.

In Jackson County, board vice chairman David Elwell, a Republican, said Whitmer's vetoes will cost the county more than $800,000 in cuts to secondary road patrol and other programs, if they remain in place until the start of the county's fiscal year on Jan. 1.

He said he does not understand how Whitmer could issue 147 line-item vetoes "just to make a point." He said he hopes GOP lawmakers will soon move forward with bills to restore the cuts and put them to a vote.

Chatfield said his office has heard from "thousands of people from every corner of the state on how the governor's vetoes are going to impact their daily lives," and "that's something we take very seriously."

He said Thursday's quadrant meeting focused on policy issues but he has had separate meetings with Whitmer about the assurances he and other Republicans would need before appropriating funds to fix "the budget mess." There has been "much progress" in those talks, but the details are private, he said.

Democratic legislative leaders, who also spoke at the breakfast, said they are confident a budget agreement can be reached.

"The budget is not done — we all know that," said Rep. Jon Hoadley, D-Kalamazoo, vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he sees his job as partly one of keeping the parties in the room and talking. It's wrong to think the problem is too big, or that the acrimony is too great, to solve it, he said.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter. Staff writer John Gallagher contributed to this report.