Credit michigan.gov
Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed a COVID-19 relief bill. But there s a bitter partisan split over what one of the governor’s line-item vetoes means for unemployment insurance benefits in the state.
The more than $100 million in relief includes $55 million dollars for small businesses and $45 million in direct payments to workers who are laid off because of the coronavirus in addition to $3.5 million in grants to live music and entertainment venues.
The contention is over the governor’s largest line-item veto: $220 million that Republicans wanted deposited from the state’s general fund into the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund which is ordinarily funded by taxes on employers.