Detroit City Wire

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has recently passed a $5.6 billion COVID-19 pandemic recovery plan for Michigan, which includes more corporate handouts, according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Her plans include promoting the Good Jobs for Michigan (GJFM) program.

The governor's plans to generate more corporate subsidy programs should not be a shock due to her legislative past. "What would be a surprise is if these handouts worked this time around," Michael LaFaive of the Mackinac Center wrote in an op-ed. "Research shows that they are not effective and come at great taxpayer expense."

LaFaive maintains that Congress should "reject her call to renew GJFM, along with other corporate and industrial welfare programs."

The Mackinac Center has a record of the corporate-welfare votes of more than 500 politicians all the way back to 2001. The Center has also evaluated each politician based on the total dollar value of subsidies authorized by each vote cast.

During her time in the Michigan House and Senate as a legislator, Whitmer voted to support more than $4.5 billion in corporate handouts. That is 98.1% of the corporate subsidy programs that were presented to her during her time serving in the Legislature.