LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The war of words continues between Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and lawmakers siding with businesses in the state
The latest fight is over the Governor’s veto of $220 million allocated under the legislature’s COVID-19 relief plan to prop up the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, calling it a “giveaway of taxpayer money.” The pool of funds is designed to help businesses fund benefits for laid off workers, but the Governor said general fund dollars must be used to fund essential services like vaccines and PPE, “not to give tax breaks to big businesses.”
Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic Chair State Representative Matt Hall, of Marshall, blasted the Governor, saying the funding would have provided additional support to address a depletion within the UIA’s trust fund, which he says has been accelerated by a surge in unemployment claims and fraud.
“After the Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic exposed significant problems within the state’s Unemployment Insurance Agency and sought input on what could be done, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer showed she is unwilling to provide resources that will address previous missteps.
“UIA’s trust fund is being depleted due to widespread unemployment claims drawing from the fund, as well as fraudulent claims being paid out. The agency was found by a third-party report to be chiefly responsible for these fraudulent payments going out after they disabled fraud detection tools and reassigned fraud investigation personnel. In a recent hearing in early December, our committee heard that what was once a $4 billion fund at the start of COVID-19 was now under $1 billion.
National Federation of Independent Business Michigan director Charlie Owens said as a result of the veto, Michigan’s smallest employers will see significant tax hikes in the coming years as the UI Trust Fund goes further into debt due to the state’s temporary extension of unemployment benefits from 20 to 26 weeks through the end of March 2021.
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