Or so I argue today in an op-ed in the Detroit News:
State officials in Michigan … are still subject to the Snyder-era law requiring them to roll out work requirements in January. So far, the state has spent $28 million implementing them and is poised to spend $40 million more in the coming year. This month, for example, the Whitmer administration will have to spend $1 million just to send detailed compliance information to about 200,000 Michiganians.
Even if you believe in work requirements, it makes zero sense to spend millions on a program that the courts are going to halt anyway. That’s why a bunch of deep red states, including Arizona, Indiana, and Montana, have all put their work requirements on pause while the litigation works its way to the Supreme Court.
Michigan should do the same. The Legislature and Whitmer may be at each other’s throats over roads and budgets, but this is not a partisan issue. It’s about fiscal prudence.
The Legislature, however, appears content to let taxpayer money burn.
