When it comes to budget-making in the Michigan Legislature, how big of a problem are phantom employees, or state agency job posts that are funded for but not filled? How large of an issue are work project dollars set aside in the past, but there's been no progress on those projects? 

Also, why do House Republicans instruct the state to follow the federal government's new work obligations for Medicaid recipients a year earlier for Healthy Michigan Plan beneficiaries? 

For its Labor Day episode, MIRS hosts a roundtable discussion with Sen. Jeff Irwin, the Ann Arbor Democrat, and Millington Republican state Rep. Phil Green (6:58).