Gretchen Whitmer on Budget & Economy

	Gretchen Whitmer on Budget & Economy

Let's make the largest housing investment in state history

We must also address the core issue of supply. Right now, we're short 140,000 homes statewide... and the way forward is clear... We gotta build, baby, build! Both Texas and Minnesota built more housing and drove costs down. MSHDA has been doing their part, with 2 straight record-breaking years. This year, let's do it again. This year, let's invest $2 billion to build, buy, or fix nearly 11,000 homes. This year, let's make the largest housing investment in Michigan history.

Every February, after I propose the budget, the legislature adds earmarks. These can be important: fire stations, roads, schools. Some of them... not so much. The problem is that these earmarks are added without transparency and have been for years, under both Republican and Democratic control. In this year's budget, let's have total transparency on all earmarks. If you want to invest taxpayer money, put your name on it. If they can do it in DC, we sure as hell can too.

Source: 2025 State of the State Address to the Michigan legislature , Feb 26, 2025

$1.4 billion to build or rehabilitate nearly 10,000 homes

In 2024, let's build more of every kind of housing--single family homes, apartments, and mixed-use buildings. In 2024, we will make the largest investment to build housing in Michigan history.

We will invest almost $1.4 billion to build or rehabilitate nearly 10,000 homes. That's10 times what we put into housing just 10 years ago. Getting this done will support thousands of good-paying, middle-class jobs in the skilled trades--from pipefitters and carpenters to bricklayers and roofers.

Source: 2024 State of the State Address to the Michigan legislature , Jan 24, 2024

Sustainable funding for our economic development efforts

Make it in Michigan proposes a sustainable funding source for our economic development efforts while growing talent, making our communities better places to live, and helping our state become a place where anyone can thrive. If we get this done, we can move faster year-round to compete and win cutting-edge manufacturing projects and bring more supply chains home. We can create opportunity for you and your family and support local economies and small businesses across our state. Source: 2023 State of the State Address to the Michigan legislature , Jan 25, 2023

I will continue finding ways to keep fixing the damn roads

If you haven't heard, roads are pretty important to me and every Michigander--our state flower might as well be an orange barrel! Since I took office, we've fixed 16,000 lane miles and 1,200 bridges, supporting 89,000 jobs. Throughout my second term, I will continue finding ways to keep fixing the damn roads. And as we fix them, let's build the most innovative transportation systems in the country. Source: 2023 State of the State Address to the Michigan legislature , Jan 25, 2023

Incredibly dangerous to say that states declare bankruptcy

Q: You've heard Senator McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, suggest that some states should consider bankruptcy. Is default an option for the state of Michigan?

WHITMER: No. And it's outrageous for Senator McConnell to even suggest that. The fact of the matter is, our general fund budget when adjusted for the inflation is the same size it was during -- when Richard Nixon was our president. We have been incredibly smart stewards. But the fact of the matter is that for Senator McConnell to suggest that is incredibly dangerous. And I don't think that the vast majority of governors in this country, Republican and Democratic, would agree with him. He's wrong.

Source: NBC Meet the Press interview for 2020 Veepstakes , Apr 26, 2020

If economy doesn't work for working people, it doesn't work

When the president says the economy is strong, my question is, strong for whom? Strong for the wealthy who are reaping rewards from tax cuts they don't need? The American economy needs to be a different kind of strong. Michigan invented the middle class, so we know: if the economy doesn't work for working people, it just doesn't work. Who fights for working, hard-working Americans? Democrats do. In the House, Democrats passed a bill on equal pay, another bill to give 30 million Americans a raise by increasing the minimum wage, and legislation to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices. Those bills and more than 275 other bills are gathering dust on Mitch McConnell's desk. Senator McConnell, America needs you to move those bills. Source: CNN on Democratic response to 2020 State of the Union , Feb 4, 2020

Kid with a shovel did more for infrastructure than GOP

Monte Scott is 13. Monte's street was covered in potholes. He got tired of waiting for them to get fixed, so he grabbed a shovel and filled them in himself. Everyone benefits when we invest in infrastructure. Congressional Democrats have presented proposals to keep us moving forward, but President Trump and the Republicans in the Senate are blocking the path. When it comes to infrastructure, Monte has tried to do more with a shovel than the Republicans have with the Oval Office and the Senate. Source: CNN on Democratic response to 2020 State of the Union , Feb 4, 2020

Most important metric is rising family income

Whitmer says we need to continue on the path toward job creation as well as investments in critical infrastructure and public education. She acknowledges the unemployment rate has fallen--from 14.9% in 2009 to 4.9% in November--but contends it is not the true measure of success in the state. "I think the most important metric is our family incomes, are they rising," said Whitmer. "Have they been raised because of the policies that have been put forth in Lansing, and the answer is no. At the end of the day the most important metric is; does a family in Kalamazoo believe that their paycheck is able to cover the bills that they have." Source: WWMT-Newschannel-3 on 2018 Michigan Gubernatorial race , Jan 24, 2017

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