LANSING, MI – Governor Gretchen Whitmer partially signed the COVID-19 relief plan presented to her by the Michigan legislature, approving $ 106 million for grants to small businesses and direct payments to individuals.
Funding is now approved for $ 55 million in grants to small businesses affected by COVID-19, including $ 3.5 million for entertainment venues only and $ 45 million in state aid for dismissed or dismissed workers.
At his press conference on Tuesday, December 29, Whitmer credited the project approved by the bipartisans with providing help to “families, frontline workers and small businesses”
“This bipartisan project will provide families and businesses with the support they need to stay afloat as we continue to work to distribute the vaccine safely and effectively and eliminate COVID-19 once and for all,” she said in a statement.. “There is still a lot of work to do to eliminate this virus and grow our economy.”
However, Whitmer approved less than a quarter of the $ 465 million supplementary bill passed with broad bipartisan support last week in the House and Senate. Whitmer vetoed 11 items in the bill, mainly allocating $ 220 million of tax revenue to the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
Read More: Read the $ 465 million coronavirus response plan that Michigan lawmakers are sending to Whitmer
The governor said she vetoed the replacement of the Trust Fund because Republicans did not negotiate this provision with her office beforehand. It also approved an extension of unemployment insurance from 20 to 26 weeks.
“To be clear, this will not affect individual workers,” said Whitmer of the Trust Fund’s veto. “General Fund dollars need to be used to finance essential services, such as vaccines and PPE, so as not to give tax breaks to large companies now.”
Senate Bill 748 added $ 220 million from the general state fund to the dangerously low unemployment trust fund – which is where unemployment benefits are paid. At the start of the pandemic, the trust fund had $ 4.6 billion, but dropped to $ 864 million on December 21 – meaning that more than 80% of the fund dried up in nine months. Employers normally pay the unemployment trust fund to cover the benefits of dismissed workers. Supporters of the veto say the bill would essentially have provided tax cuts for large corporations for not having to pay to the trust fund.
Read More: Here’s what the state’s $ 465 million, $ 908 billion federal COVID aid accounts mean for Michiganders
Whitmer justified the move by pointing to the federal stimulus approved by President Donald Trump on Sunday, December 27. The impact on the Unemployment Insurance Fund would be mitigated by the federal stimulus providing an additional $ 300 per week to all unemployment beneficiaries.
“The continuation of these benefits, together with an additional $ 300 per week for all applicants, will provide our employees with emergency financial assistance to purchase essential items such as groceries and prescription drugs,” according to the statement.
Whitmer has veto authority for line item under Michigan law. The other vetoes are detailed in the process she sent to the Secretary of State. Messages were left with the offices of the governor and the secretary of state to explain the other vetoes.
Senate Republicans called the $ 220 million veto “shameful” and a “slap in the face” for Michigan workers.
“The governor’s veto on unemployment benefit financing is a slap in the face for thousands of Michigan workers and businesses who are suffering because of their actions,” wrote the MI Senado GOP on Twitter.
Whitmer initially lobbied the legislature in early December for $ 400 million to fund the state’s response to COVID-19. This included $ 192 million for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for testing, contact tracking, food assistance for children and a continued increase of $ 2 an hour for direct care workers.
Elements of the bill not covered in the Whitmer communiqué include $ 115.3 million for hospitals and nursing homes to address the shortage of health professionals and $ 79.1 million to expand testing and finance the distribution of vaccines .
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