On Tuesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer released a 60-second social media video in which she rattles off a list of “good stuff” in her 2025 budget.

It takes significantly more than a minute to fact check the governor’s claims, however.

Do YOU know what’s in this year’s budget? 💵

We’ve got so much good stuff, it could take hours to go through everything. But let’s put 60 seconds on the clock and see how much of it I can cover! pic.twitter.com/WBjFfq941y

— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) August 13, 2024

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“This budget makes a real difference in people’s lives and together we’re making Michigan a place where all proud to call home. Last month, I signed my 6th balanced bipartisan budget and I’ve got 60 seconds to tell you all about it we’ll keep fixing the damn roads and bridges so you can get where you need to go,” she said.

Despite the governor’s boast, Michigan was ranked in the bottom half of U.S. states to drive in, according to MoneyGeek.

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“Roads and bridges that are deteriorated, congested or lack some desirable safety features cost Michigan motorists a total of $17 billion statewide annually – as much as $3,005 per driver in some areas – due to higher vehicle operating costs, traffic crashes and congestion-related delays,” according to a news release from TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit.

Those extra costs include $5.7 billion annually in lost time and wasted fuel due to traffic congestion, $5.9 billion in extra vehicle operating costs, and $5.4 billion for traffic crashes in which inadequate roadway safety features were a factor.

Michigan’s 2023 Road & Bridges Annual Report released this spring by Whitmer’s own administration showed the state improved 16.2% of roads eligible for federal aid between 2021 and 2023, while 21.2% of those roads declined.

It was the same deal with non-federal aid roads, of which “47% were found to be in poor condition … (or) 2% more than from 2021 to 2022.”

“Roads are deteriorating faster than the agencies can repair them,” according to the Transportation Asset Management Council that issued the report.

The road and bridges report found 33% of Michigan’s paved federal aid roads are in poor condition, 41% are in fair condition, and 26% are in good condition. By 2035, the council predicts 52% will be in poor condition, 28% in fair condition, and 20% in good condition.

“Infrastructure is the backbone of Michigan’s economy,” said Ed Noyola, chief deputy and legislative director of the County Road Association of Michigan. “The problem is not going away and we cannot continue to allow Michigan’s critical roads and bridges to fall into poor condition. We must invest in our transportation system to ensure that it is safe and reliable for generations to come.”

Instead, the Whitmer administration borrowed $3.5 billion in 2019 to fund road projects that’s slated to run out this year, and Michigan is now “quickly approaching a revenue cliff” with no clear solution in sight, according to The Detroit News.

She continued: “[A]nd it starts a farm to family program so more Michigan farmers crops make it to Michigan tables.”

Whitmer was referring to the Farm to Family program inaugurated in her new budget.

n a statement released in June, Whitmer’s budget includes “$3 million to establish a Farm to Family program, focusing on building agricultural diversity, fueling economic growth in agriculture, increasing food security, providing healthy food options, and cultivating climate resiliency across the industry.”

The Farm to Family program budgets $4 million to hire six full-time employees.

However, the Michigan Farm Bureau, says there’s more to Whitmer’s budget than the Farm to Family program she lauds in her social media post, including reduced funding for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

“A 7% decrease in funds available to the department, the budget reflects a decrease in federal funding commitments and $3.7 million less in state general fund dollars,” MFB noted in a news release. “County fairs and expositions will receive $500,000 in continued funding, losing a $2 million one-time allocation from the prior year.”

MFB noted in a news release that the Democratic majority passed Senate Bill 663, which is currently under consideration by the House Natural Resources, Environment, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Committee, which could be disastrous for Michigan farmers.

“Michigan Farm Bureau strongly opposes the legislation and says the change would give EGLE wide-ranging regulatory authority across Michigan’s landscape, reduce government transparency, and limit opportunity for stakeholder input and economic analysis,” MFB Legislative Counsel Ben Tirrell said in a statement.

“We are disappointed in the Senate action,” Tirrell added. “We will certainly be engaging with House members to prevent the legislation from moving further this fall, and I expect our members will have similar conversations with their representatives throughout the summer.”

Finally, Whitmer trumpets her new $60 million Michigan Innovation Fund, which she claims “launches a new fund to invest in startups creating thousands of jobs and keeps bringing more factors and supply chains home so we can keep making stuff in Michigan.”

Supporters of the program allege it will create 5,000 jobs by allocating $105 million to five Michigan nonprofit organizations that would, turn, appropriate the money to new business startups.

The program has its detractors. Most notably, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy says the MIF is a repeat of the failed 21st Century Jobs Fund initiated during the administration of former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

A 2020 MCPP study said the Granholm program created jobs at a cost of between $274,800 and $330,600 per job per year.

“We found that the programs created jobs but had to offer between $274,800 and $330,600 of incentives per job per year,” the study noted. “Even if the new jobs paid $400,000 each, they would not return to the treasury what was necessary to create them.”

John Mozena, president of the Center for Economic Accountability, told Michigan Capitol Confidential that taxpayers would bear the risk but not the reward of investing in companies backed by venture capital.

“The entire idea of investing in venture capital is that it’s high risk and high reward for people who put their money into these funds,” Mozena wrote in an email. “But when it comes to taxpayers, this model has all the risk of traditional venture capital investing, but none of the potential reward.”