Whitmer slashes GOP Legislature's COVID-19 relief bill to $106M

Lansing — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday signed a $106 million supplemental COVID-19 relief bill, but her line-item vetoes slashed more than three-quarters of the $465 million originally approved by the GOP-led Legislature.

Included in the line-item vetoes are roughly $220 million meant for the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, a pool of money that businesses to help finance benefits for workers. Whitmer on Tuesday called it a "giveaway" that benefited employers, even after the state has directed some tax breaks toward businesses.

"We have helped, but this went too far," Whitmer said. "…The funding that I vetoed has nothing to do with extending benefits.”

It was not immediately clear which other items vetoed by the governor made up the roughly $360 million cut in the supplemental spending. The signed bill including the line item vetoes was not made immediately available.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/12/29/whitmer-address-states-ongoing-covid-19-response/4071379001/