The State of Texas, through its Health and Human Services Department, has begun to ramp up its efforts to get the poor, especially those who are relying on social programs, to leave the state by denying thousands of eligible food stamp recipients an opportunity to utilize the program.
Texas, led by an extremist GOP legislature and Governor, has openly circumvented Federal Income Guidelines for SNAP eligibility and imposed their own onerous, and often "tricky" guidelines for those wishing to apply for assistance. Many of those I spoke to who applied for Food Stamps in the State of Texas recall experiences dealing with hostile and overtly political staff, who often mislead them about qualifications, asserted the Food Stamp program was "State Funded" and who screamed at them and were very abusive.
Not only did the recipients have to deal with extreme ideologues in applying for food stamps in Texas, the State itself has imposed "gotcha" rules and regulations meant to trip up those who do qualify for benefits and make the process so onerous many will simply turn away. This is due in large part to the Texas leadership having such strong political views which are opposed to social welfare programs, especially the food stamp programs.
Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert himself has taken the time often to rant and rave on television and in the State Capital about all sorts of "abuses" of the program such as "people buying crab legs and expensive meats".
This difficulty to obtain food assistance in Texas forced Rachelle Grimmer, a 38 year old single mother from Zanesville, Ohio, to do the unthinkable one morning in 2011 when she visited the local food stamp office. Ms. Grimmer, frustrated that her repeated complaints about her unfair denials of food stamps to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services had gone unanswered, walked into the food stamp office armed with a gun and ended up killing herself and her two children.
Not only do the poor in Texas who apply for food stamps face incredibly hostile, incompetent staffs at both their local office and the Ombudsman office in Austin, they are also subjected to ultra tricky Texas regulations that attempt to ensnare them in administrative technicalities to either deny their benefits after they have been started or deny them altogether.
Sandy Thompson lives in Fort Worth, TX with her two children ages 14 and 15. A life long Texan, Sandy (an assumed name as she doesn't want her real name being used) has worked since she was 15 years old. Ms. Thompson found herself applying for Food Aid after her husband had suddenly abandoned her and her two children while at the same time she was laid off from her job. Struggling to pay the rent and utilities, she finally decided to call 211 when she had only a can of beans and a pack hot dogs in her refrigerator and a $1.35 to her name. She borrowed a few dollars from a friend to buy a bag of potatoes, four $.97 cents packs of hot dogs, two loaves of bread, mayonnaise, an onion and salt and pepper and figured she would apply for the first time in her life for food aid.
She never thought she would be in for the fight of her life.
First, Ms. Thompson was told by the over the phone HHS agent that they would have to verify how she left her last job. She was informed that the State of Texas would call her employer and interrogate her employer to make sure she had not quit her job. Shocked by this, she informed the agent she had in fact been laid off.
The agent then told her that if her employer said something to the contrary she would be ineligible for food stamps.
"I was shocked by the answers and even the tone of the local agent. This process was so demeaning. I never would have thought someone who met the guidelines for Federal Food Aid assistance would be subjected to having their employer questioned. What if the employer was not in favor of a particular employee? What if a manager or employer lied? Would my kids go hungry just off their word?", Ms. Thompson stated while shaking her head and clearly being concerned.
In the State of Texas the answer unfortunately is yes.
After being approved for Food Aid the fight didn't end there she would later learn. When Ms. Thompson filled out her online application for food aid, she mistakenly left off her apartment number. This should have been no major concern as the State of Texas had also requested she fax over a lease as residence and address verification which she promptly did.
However, after receiving her first payment for food stamps, she suddenly found her food stamps were denied after calling up to inquire about her payment date. She asked the agent why and was informed a "letter was returned" and that a "sanctions" had been placed on her account. She was then informed to call the local Workforce office which she did. Apparently, the state of Texas had sent her a letter requesting she enroll in an employment class for job seekers, and tied this requirement to her continued eligibility for food stamps. Ms. Thompson, who stated she applies for several jobs a day online and has the emails to prove it, was stunned. No one had told her anything about a job seekers class.
After she had called the Texas Workforce Commission, the manager found that she had left off her apartment number and had the sanctions lifted. However, later that day she was informed that the State of Texas had gone over and above the local sanctions and had denied her benefits outright because the letter had been returned.
When she inquired of the manager, Victor, Employee Number 30338 at the Department of Human Services, she was yelled at, accused of being fraudulent in her application and told she would need to reapply for benefits, pushing off her food stamps another 30 to 45 days. When she asked why they couldn't simply correct her apartment number and add it, especially with it being on the lease she submitted, Victor yelled at her again and ended the call abruptly.
Ms. Thompson then turned to the Texas HHS Ombudsman Office in Austin for assistance. However, the first agent she spoke to, agent Thomas Anderson, was equally hostile and berated her for even "Moving to Texas" and the second agent, "Blanca Lopez, kept yelling at her and interrupting her.
In frustration, Ms. Thompson, fearing now for her ability to feed her children, began searching online for numbers to other contacts for help.
She said she never would have imagined in a million years Texas would become such a hostile place once she signed up for food aid.
The Federal Government erred when leaving it up to these Southern Republican controlled states to administer the SNAP Program. These states have all imposed new guidelines to make it almost impossible for many of the needy to qualify, adding their own restrictions, often with ideological slants, which disqualify many of those who would otherwise qualify under Federal guidelines.
Many of the poor, such as Tandra Davis, have simply given up. Ms. Davis, a mother of three little boys, says she was tired of the harassment, and hostility and tricks that Texas subjected her to when she applied for food stamps and she now simply frequents food banks. Many of the poor have followed in her steps.
"I would have never imagined that a state can make laws that usurp federal laws, and make guidelines that usurp federal guidelines", Ms. Davis stated. "There have been times my kids and I have gone hungry. There have been times I have been forced to beg for food", she said as she looked down defeated.
"Why these white guys running this state would be so hateful towards the poor and then say their all Christian is something I will never understand" stated Ms. Davis as she looked off in the distance.
She trailed off with "This is a state where the poor can feel so helpless. We have powerful forces against us and I pray for the day we can vote them out. They are all privileged. Their kids will never know a hungry night. So why fight tooth and nail against the poor?" she closed with..
If only we had an answer for her.
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Post Reblogged from Txresistor
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