Michigan Governor Asks State Lawmakers to Provide $350 Million for Detroit At a news conference in Lansing, Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan said, "This is not a bailout of dollars for Detroit's debts." Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press, via Associated Press DETROIT - With time growing short for leaders here to file a plan for this city's emergence from bankruptcy, Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday urged Michigan's Legislature to provide $350 million to lessen possible cuts to the pensions of Detroit retirees and save the city's art collection from the threat of sale. Mr. Snyder, a Republican facing re-election this fall, was flanked by the leaders of the State House and Senate as he laid out the proposal during a news conference in Lansing, but broad support for the plan, which would require legislative approval, remains uncertain. In this state's Republican-held Legislature, any notion that could be characterized as bailing out Detroit has previously been received with deep skepticism, and Mr. Snyder acknowledged in an interview that "it will be a challenging exercise" to sell his plan in the state capital. "This is not a bailout of dollars for Detroit's debts," Mr. Snyder said during his news conference, describing an arrangement that he said could be paid for over 20 years and come from the state's tobacco settlement funds. This is not a bailout of banks and other creditors. This is focused on helping reduce and mitigate the impact on retirees. It's focused on protecting assets. Six months after Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy case in the nation's history, it is fast approaching a March deadline to file a formal plan, known as a plan of adjustment, to pay off some portion of its $18 billion in debts and remake the city. So officials, including Mr. Snyder, are racing to help reach negotiated agreements on key elements, including the city's underfunded pension system and the prospect of selling works from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Under the proposal - expected to include $350 million in state money and $330 million from private foundations - control of the art museum would be transferred to a nonprofit group, while the additional money would go to the pension system. Officials say the plan would help resolve two of the most delicate elements of Detroit's circumstances: fear that city retirees will see their pensions cut drastically and concern that the art museum will be sold off to pay creditors, some of whom are worried the city may be underestimating the value of the art. In a hearing here on Wednesday, Steven Rhodes, the federal judge overseeing the case, declined to appoint a committee to study the value of the artworks further, rejecting a request from a group of creditors, including bond insurers and labor unions. They argued that the city was holding back information, and raised questions about an evaluation by Christie's, which concluded that selling a portion of the collection would generate $454 million to $867 million. City officials have said the auction house had not evaluated all of the museum's works in part because some were given to the museum with specific provisions about their use that might, they said, cloud the possibility of sale. But some of the creditors said that they believed many significant works had been inexplicably overlooked, and that they needed to evaluate the possible value for themselves. On Wednesday, Judge Rhodes also put off deciding on a request to block planned cuts to health care for retirees. But he urged those involved in the case to use their remaining weeks - before the city files its plan of adjustment - to truly negotiate. "Now is not the time for defiant swagger," he said, adding that he would simply reject any unsustainable plan, one that might land Detroit back in bankruptcy court a second time.