Posted on 08/12/2010 7:22:38 AM PDT by La Lydia
The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services recently announced awarding $500 to each of 10,847 families to help cover costs for the upcoming school year. Funding was provided by stimulus funds as part of the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. The SRS press release explained that no one needed to apply for the free federal money. According to the SRS “eligibility for the program is determined by household size, income and resources … eligible families will be notified by mail.” But if you are poor and did not receive such a payment, there is no mechanism to apply for this government assistance. The government decided unilaterally who received these payments, and no legislative body in Kansas reviewed this program or authorized these payments.
The SRS cited both Kansas and Federal statutes for denying an open records request for the list of recipients to study: Personal information relating to the recipients is confidential and privileged pursuant to KSA 39-709b and the federal Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
SRS Director of Communications Steve Mock answered our questions:
Q: Why did SRS make the decision about who was eligible for this payment instead of publishing the requirements and asking the public to apply?
A: Families enrolled in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program have incomes under 26.4 percent of the federal poverty level – less than $5,000 a year for a family of three – and very few assets. To receive TANF assistance, families must have at least one child under age 18 in the home and must work towards employment. There is a 60 month lifetime limit on TANF assistance.
Could there be a clearer illustration of what is going on in our country? Money is taken by force of law from one group of people and given, no questions asked, to another group. No one involved has any say in the matter, except anonymous bureaucrats who refuse to answer questions. How very Soviet of Kansas.
You’ll be able to tell by the new flat screen TVs in public housing.
what ever happened to transparency and public accountability? what happened to for the people and by the people...seems like anyone that is elected for appointed to a gov position thinks they are royalty and we are peons.
what ever happened to transparency and public accountability? what happened to for the people and by the people...seems like anyone that is elected for appointed to a gov position thinks they are royalty and we are peons.
“You’ll be able to tell by the new flat screen TVs in public housing.”
Don’t forget the new X-boxes.
This is total crap.
"Where do you get it?"
"Obama!"
"Where did he get it?"
"I dunno, his stash, I guess!"
Robin Hood economics
Welfare recipients should not be entitled to any privacy rights. We as taxpayers have a right to know WHERE our money is being spent!
Didn’t the Dems claim all this stimulus money was supposed to create jobs? This seems to be an excellent example of what many of us thought about the stimulus....it’s just a political give-away of money we don’t have and given that unemployment is stuck at nearly 10% the entire stimulus was a hoax.
1:1 correlation w Dem voter rolls....
No way to find out that the Obama administration has taken more of your money and given it to people who it feels are “oppressed” and deserve the money that you worked hard for.
These people are obsessed with redistribution of income from those who work for it and giving it to those who vote democrat.
Reparations... through the back door.
As long as you have the correct skin color, you too can get FREE MONEY!
It's more fun than taking your SSI check to the casino!
Just about every low income housing unit in my area has a slew of satellite dishes mounted to their exteriors.
We may have poor people in America, but they’re the richest poor in the world.
there is a need in all forms of government to kick them all out put them on a slow boat to nowhere strip their citizenship and then we need to go back to our constitution. these imbeciles, need to find out who really is in charge, because right now they think they are.
“You’ll be able to tell by the new flat screen TVs in public housing.”
Yep, football season is coming and we don’t want our needy to be forced to watch in non-HDTV. I wonder if free cable is included?
he gave away our money, not his. he made 5 mil last year. large amount form BP
“Back door” — Looks like they’re pushing reparations through the front door and right under our noses. This is an outrage.
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