Few Democratic lawmakers disagree with Whitmer's job creation incentives
FOX 2 (WJBK) - Michigan Gov. Grethen Whitmer was flying high this past weekend.
She was center stage at the NFL's record-breaking draft in Detroit, and she was among the 3,000 big shooters at the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night – where she must have enjoyed her candidate for president, Joe Biden, taking on former President Donald Trump.
"Donald has had a few tough days lately," Biden said during his correspondents' dinner speech. "You might call it stormy weather."
Speaking of storms, there is a political one brewing under the dome in Michigan, as some democrats do not like some of the tools in the governor's tool kit when it comes to job creation.
"To keep winning, we must upgrade our economic development tool kit. We can and must out-compete our neighbors," Whitmer said during her State of the State address in January.
Whitmer wants to beef up incentives for corporations like the Ford Battery Plant in Marshall.
The problem is – some liberal Democrats in Michigan's Senate and House reject the governor's plan. They have a different idea of where the money should go.
"We need to move away from that because these policies have shown to be ineffective. We need to move to what I call compassion economics – which is investing in public transit, mental health services, schools, roads, bridges, etc.," said State Rep. Dylan Wegela.
At this time, Whitmer does not have enough Democratic votes to pass her plan, which means she will need some Republicans to do it. That means working with the Senate GOP Leader Aric Nesbitt or House GOP Leader Matt Hall in order to get what she wants.
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