Whitmer boasts of vehicle rebate missing from the state budget

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this week posted a comment on X taking credit for a 2025 state budget item that gives checks to Michiganders who buy new vehicles. The problem is that legislators cut the rebate program from the $82.5 billion budget when they approved it a few days before.

“Get in, Michiganders. We’re lowering costs!” read Whitmer’s since-deleted June 30 tweet. “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 approved budget. Jeremiah Ward, press secretary to Rep. Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, caught the error and tweeted about it.

“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 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 rebates would have been 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.