In Budget, News Releases

For Immediate Release
June 17, 2020

Contact:
Alex Rossman
arossman@mlpp.org
Cell: 517-775-9053

Legislature works together to tackle Michiganders’ pressing needs with COVID supplemental

LANSING—The Michigan League for Public Policy issued the following statement on the Michigan House of Representatives’ passage of Senate Bill 690, a budget supplemental bill that distributes federal CARES Act dollars to the state’s COVID-related needs. The statement can be attributed to Michigan League for Public Policy President and CEO Gilda Z. Jacobs.

“When the COVID crisis took hold in Michigan, we outlined our policy recommendations to address the most pressing needs of state residents and their families, and we are pleased to see many of those addressed in today’s budget supplemental. This includes significant funding for vital rental and water utility assistance, unemployment needs, and child care rate reduction stipends to help reduce costs for families. There’s also more money for Double Up Food Bucks, a program the League has long championed that helps SNAP recipients stretch their food dollars and get fresh fruits and vegetables, funding to help schools with distance learning needs, and investments in efforts to support frontline and essential workers and small businesses.

“We appreciate the bipartisan, unanimous action today to help Michiganders weather this crisis, but we also can’t let today’s good news cloud the fact that there’s still a significant state budget crisis—and a dire need for new revenue—looming. We hope this bipartisan agreement can continue in the weeks and months ahead with lawmakers working together to advocate for more federal funding and flexibility and making sound, strategic budget decisions that focus on new revenue and investment instead of drastic cuts.”

BACKGROUND:

League Report- RELEASED TODAY: COVID-19 Crisis Highlights Need for More State Revenue

Letter to Gov. Whitmer re: Unemployment Reforms

League Report: Beyond the Coronavirus Crisis: Improve Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance to better help workers in the long term

League COVID-19 Policy Briefs

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The Michigan League for Public Policy, www.mlpp.org, is a nonprofit policy institute focused on economic opportunity for all. It is the only state-level organization that addresses poverty in a comprehensive way.

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