Insider: How barbershop quartets became a flashpoint in state budget fight

Lansing — A barbershop quartet, named Renaissance, visited the Michigan Capitol on Tuesday, singing outside the House chamber and defending state funding that supports arts and culture programs.

House Republicans have been pushing to cut billions of dollars in expenditures from the current budget to free up money for new investments in road improvements in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. State lawmakers are still trying to negotiate a budget before the deadline to avert a partial state government shutdown.