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Michigan’s congressional delegation split on a $3.8 trillion Republican budget Wednesday night.

The House passed the budget 228-199, with no Democrats supporting it and 17 Republicans opposing it. Only Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, broke party ranks and opposed.

The budget calls for repealing the health care law and envisions transformations of the tax code and Medicare.

Much of the budget’s savings would come from Medicaid, food stamps and welfare, programs that aid the low-income, although details were sketchy.

The Republican-controlled Senate is likely to approve its version of a budget by week’s end.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, a first-term representative and member of the Budget Committee, used the budget debate to push Republicans to do more to address long-term health care needs.

“Long-term care is a concern that nearly every American family will confront in coming years. We’ve made great strides to improve our healthcare system in the last few years, but we still don’t have a comprehensive, long-term plan for how seniors can get the day-to-day help they need for the basic tasks of living, like bathing and getting dressed in the morning,” she said.

“That leaves seniors to rely on a patchwork of help from family members, community organizations, and puts a burden on Medicare and Medicaid. The Democratic budget contains language we authored that would allow the House to consider legislation to begin to resolve the long-term care crisis in our country. It’s an important priority, and it’s an important statement that it’s been included in our alternative budget.”

Dingell said Republicans and Democrats need to work on the issue. “It’s not going to go away,” she said, after the GOP rejected the Democratic alternative.

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