House Republican Leader Matt Hall criticized Michigan Democrats’ expansion of taxpayer-funded cash welfare, which the governor signed into law Tuesday.

Senate Bill 932, which House Democrats passed last month in their only session day since June, extends the time people can receive cash assistance through the Family Independence Program (FIP) to five years, a 25% increase over the previous four-year limit. The bill does nothing to crack down on welfare fraud, which has increased 210% since 2019, according to Michigan State Police data.

“After raising the income tax on every Michigan taxpayer, Democrats are expanding cash welfare and paying people not to work for up to five years,” said Hall, R-Richland Township. “Businesses are hiring all across our state, and we should be helping people get off of welfare and into good jobs. Meanwhile, welfare fraud has tripled since 2019. Democrats’ decision to expand this broken system is just reckless political gamesmanship. It’s an abuse of the dollars of hard-working Michiganders, and it has to stop.”

In addition to the lifetime cap extension, Democrats increased benefit amounts in the latest state budget, which only balanced because of the Democrat income tax hike on every Michigan taxpayer.

The bill continues Democrats’ efforts to reduce standards that ensure benefits go only to people who need them. Last year, the Legislature and governor passed a law repealing the asset test for food stamp recipients, which ensured that lottery winners and other millionaires couldn’t exploit the program and collect food assistance. House Democrats also recently voted along party lines to let unemployment recipients receive six more weeks of benefits in any given year — a 30% increase. The legislation would increase government dependence and open the door to even more fraud at Gov. Whitmer’s mismanaged unemployment agency — which has paid out billions of dollars in fraud in recent years.