LANSING – A Milford legislator wants the state to stop spending money on the Gordie Howe International Bridge, even though the state is getting reimbursed for all its expenses by Canada.

State Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, added language to a proposed state transportation budget that prohibits the state from spending money on the second span across the Detroit River, connecting Detroit and Windsor.

After being unable to get the Legislature to approve a plan for a second span, Gov. Rick Snyder negotiated a deal with Canada in 2012 to have Canada pay for the bridge in exchange for the revenues from the tolls.

The state has spent $230 million on purchasing land and engineering work on the Michigan side of the bridge. But every penny has been reimbursed by Canada, said Jeff Cranson, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation.

“Canada, through the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority, is financing the Gordie Howe International Bridge because of the vital benefits it will provide to the flow of commerce between the two countries,” Cranson said in a statement. “The project enjoys broad support from job providers and labor leaders across Michigan, and we are confident lawmakers know that.”

The move to cut any type of state funding of the bridge has critics worried that work on the bridge could be stalled or stopped. But that is not his intent, Maddock said.

More:Here's why the Gordie Howe Bridge will look the way it will

More:GOP wants to explore selling Blue Water Bridge, other assets to fix Michigan roads

“Are we getting reimbursed with a check, or are they issuing us toll credits that are going to take place in the future after the bridge is built?” he said. “We just want to create more transparency. … And why should Michigan be the credit card for Canada?”

The language, which isn’t included in the budgets offered by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or the Senate, harkens back to the protracted fight over building a second span across the river, which is one of the busiest crossings between Canada and the United States.

Republicans have long fought the bridge and have been helped in that fight by the family of Manuel "Matty" Moroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge, which has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash to lawmakers in an effort to stop the second publicly owned bridge.

Those donations haven’t stopped even though work has begun on the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

In the 2018 election cycle, the Morouns have donated to dozens of Republican lawmakers and their leadership political action committees, including: $23,000 to state Rep. Shane Hernandez, R-Port Huron and $12,000 to state Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, who serve as the chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee; $6,000 to Maddock, who is chairman of the transportation subcommittee; $40,000 to the House Republican Campaign Committees; $95,000 to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, and $20,000 to Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield’s leadership PAC.

The transportation budget approved by the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday on a party-line 17-12 vote, now moves to the full House of Representatives, which is expected to vote on the plan Thursday and then it will have to be reconciled with the Senate version of the budget. Whitmer also could exercise a line-item veto on the final budget approved by the Legislature.

House Democrats offered an amendment to strip the language from the budget, but it was voted down by Republicans, who hold a majority on the panel.

“The bridge provides economic development opportunities through jobs and allows us to strengthen our relationship with Canada,” said state Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit. “Michigan exported $60 billion in goods, which supported 1 million Michigan jobs.”

Maddock said the bridge won’t be stalled or shut down because of the budget language.

“People are making a mountain out of a molehill on this issue.”

Also proposed in the House transportation budget is soliciting proposals to sell the Blue Water Bridge, which connects Port Huron and Sarnia, and shifting the .06-cent sales tax on gas to a fuel tax that would generate more than $800 million a year for road improvements. Whitmer has proposed a .45-cent per gallon fuel tax to raise $2.5 billion a year to fix the state's roads.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.