LANSING Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday unveiled a $5.6 billion plan to combat and recover from the coronavirus pandemic, proposing the use of billions in federal relief and $575 million in surplus state funds.
Gretchen Whitmer
LANSING, Mich. (AP) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday unveiled a $5.6 billion plan to combat and recover from the coronavirus pandemic, proposing the use of billions in federal relief and $575 million in surplus state funds.
The request will go to Michigan’s Republican-led Legislature on Wednesday, less than a month after Congress and President Trump enacted additional COVID-19 aid that will flow through states and fund priorities such as vaccine distribution, testing, tracing, higher food assistance benefits and new rental assistance.
A major facet of the Democratic governor’s proposal would allocate $300 million in state dollars nearly $2 billion when federal funding is counted to help K-12 schools offer the option of in-person instruction by March 1 and to address pandemic-related learning loss. Districts with higher numbers of disadvantaged students or those with disabilities would receive more money.
The Democratic governor announced
the proposal during a press conference, setting up a potential high-stakes fight with the GOP-led Legislature, which controls the state s finances and has threatened to use the power to spur Whitmer to lift restrictions on restaurants.
The new plan came four days after financial experts unveiled rosier than previously expected revenue projections for the state. However,
about 90% of the plan will come from the federal government and relief programs approved by Congress. It is vitally important that we immediately take that federal funding that everybody advocated for and get it out to our residents, said Budget Director Dave Massaron, adding the administration planned to send a formal request to the Legislature on Wednesday.