Created Equal: What Gov. Whitmer’s budget tells us about her priorities

If you want to know what a governor is prioritizing for the year, look no further than their budget.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’ 2024-2025 fiscal budget reveals how she has been on a steady march to a very different way to finding opportunity and anti-poverty programs.

The discretionary spending budget, rolled out by Whitmer last month, totals $33.3 billion, including more money for public safety, affordable housing and education, including universal pre-K for 4-year-olds and free two years of community college.

Monique Stanton, CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, joined Stephen Henderson on Created Equal on Tuesday to talk about Whitmer’s budget proposal and what it tells us about her approach to equity and poverty eradication.

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Guest:

Monique Stanton is the CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy. She says the governor has worked toward continuing the programs that help citizens. 

“… one of the things that happened during COVID was … I think a light was shined on our social safety net and how we can use money, because poverty really is an absence of dollars and resources, to prevent really significant crisis in families, and we showed that worked. If you look at the federal child tax credit, we cut poverty in half,” she said.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.