Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed into law a bill that would eliminate the asset test for anyone needing food assistance in her state, which passed the Michigan Legislature in June, as we noted at the time.
Whitmer has really turned into the anti-Ron DeSantis, hasn’t she? Like DeSantis, she is the governor of a large swing state, but unlike DeSantis she a) does not hate her constituents, b) pursues policies that would actually help those constituents, and c) does not have a voice like a particularly adenoidal Chihuahua.
The asset test had been signed into law a decade ago by then-Republican Gov. Rick Snyder while he was also busy causing and then not solving the water crisis in Flint. (To be fair, what did the poors need food for if they didn’t have water to wash it down with, checkmate, libs.)
The test, which required families to show that they had less than $15,000 in assets to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), was passed into law because some guy in Michigan kept collecting food assistance after he won $850,000 in the state lottery, which is for sure a dick move! Seems like responding by passing a test hurting people who have not won the lottery might be overkill, but this is a huge fear of Republicans:
“Without this test measuring people’s wealth,” House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, said in a statement, “even lottery winners and other millionaires could rake in food stamps paid for with our tax dollars that should be going to those who truly need help feeding their families.”
Yeah, the proper thing to do when one lottery winner doesn’t give up his SNAP assistance is to inflict on an entire class of people more government paperwork and punishing hunger until they can prove they really had less money to their name than lobbyists spend buying lawmakers lunch in a week.
Besides, there’s already a federal asset test for people to receive SNAP. A state test is just piling on, which we guess is at least partly why 36 states — make that 37 — do not have such a requirement.
No word on how Michigan Republicans feel about, say, a grossly wealthy billionaire writing off his yachting trips as tax deductions, but as always when it comes to tax dollars, some people’s tax burdens count and others don’t.
Whitmer this week has also signed bills to increase early voting and (hopefully) expand the amount of affordable housing that gets built in Michigan. Oh Lord, people are going to be slightly less hungry and also have places to live? What a nightmare.
Yeah, collecting SNAP benefits after hitting the lottery is a dick move, but how much food did they collect? I mean, it's one banana Michael. How much could it cost, $10?
Gretchmer is busy Lansing GOP boils.