Whitmer boasts of vehicle rebate missing from the state budget

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this week posted a comment on X about her desire to have the 2025 state budget give checks to Michiganders who buy new vehicles. The problem is that legislators cut the rebate program was cut from the $82.5 billion budget when they approved it a few days before.

“Get in, Michiganders. We’re lowering costs!” says Whitmer’s since-deleted X post of June 30. “With the Michigan Vehicle Rebate, you can get at least $1,000 back when you buy a new car – and an additional $500 more if that car was assembled by a union. Now that’s a good deal.”

This program doesn’t exist in the passed budget. Jeremiah Ward, press secretary to Rep. Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, caught the error and posted about it on X. “Dems’ late-night, $82.5B budget was so rushed even Gov. Whitmer doesn't know what she negotiated. She tweeted (and deleted) about her vehicle rebate proposal that isn't in the budget,” Ward wrote on July 1.

Media outlets were aware of the deletion, reporting on it June 27. Bridge Michigan noted three days before Whitmer’s post that no vehicle rebates were included in the state budget.

Whitmer first touted the rebate plans in a Dec. 13 press release. The plan would have given rebates. The rebates would be worth between $1,000 and $2,500 for new electric, hybrid, or traditional vehicles, when combined with federal incentives, according to the release.

Whitmer did not respond to a request for comment.