Whitmer vetoes bill aiming to end $300/week federal unemployment benefits
(The Center Square) – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed HB 4434 aiming to end the $300/week boosted federal unemployment benefits.
In her veto letter, Whitmer said she is “open to discontinuing” the enhanced benefit early if the Legislature “swiftly allocates” federal funding for childcare and boosts normal unemployment benefits to match neighboring states.
“Moreover, ending these enhanced [unemployment insurance] benefits on July 31, as proposed by HB 4434, would drain $1.5 billion from our economy — money that will instead flow into our local economies and support small businesses,” Whitmer said.
The first-term Democrat said the bill was moot since it didn’t garner the required two-thirds support in the GOP-controlled Legislature for immediate effect so that the bill wouldn’t activate until 2022 — after the benefits ended in September.
Whitmer said the legislation violated federal law by ending benefits without a required 30-day notice.
The nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency says at least 25 states have declared an end to the extended unemployment benefits, with benefits expiring in those between June 12 to July 3.
Michigan Chamber President & CEO Rich Studley said Whitmer on Monday kicked off her “MI Small Business Tour” to showcase the resiliency of businesses through the pandemic, but today vetoed help for those same small businesses “that would have helped businesses recover from COVID-19.”
The GOP contends the extra benefits are no longer necessary and are causing labor shortages as workers choose unemployment over returning to work.
Bill co-sponsor Rep. Andrew Fink, R-Adams Twp, told The Center Square the veto shows how “out of touch” Whitmer is with Michigan’s current economy.
“She doesn’t realize the difficulty she’s causing the people who make our economy go: small business owners, entrepreneurs, people who are willing to get up and go to work every day and do something hard,” Fink said in a phone interview.
Fink said the harm from boosted benefits shows clearly in his district in industries ranging from gas stations to manufacturing to the service industry.
“Everyone is facing a shortage or is having to pay rates able to overcome an artificial competition from the government, and that’s driving prices up,” Fink said. “The inflation we’re seeing nationwide is being exacerbated by Gov. Whitmer’s unwillingness to let the economy get back to normal.”
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