Tales Of The New Crown: Michigan DHHS BRIDGES Falling Down - Detroit Food Banks Closing

https://newmibridgeslogin.michigan.gov/

It seems Michigan Bridges is about to collapse, again.

Ah, the memories.

I remember when Michigan DHHS previously shut down because it was never designed to handle high traffic of individuals in need.

Michigan likes to kick people off from receiving benefits, like parents who have to spend the rest of their living days caring for children who were drugged, raped, beaten and tortured in Foster Care and its lab rat tiny human experimental institutions that bill Medicaid, and get federal, state and private, foreign NGO grants..... to allow the drugging, raping, beating and torture of children in Foster Care who survived being tiny human lab rats for years.

Yup.

Michigan wants parents to who have saved their children from the hell of its Child Welfare System to be put back into the Child Welfare System.

It is just a chattel issue of Parental Rights, because the parents can not provide for the necessary needs of the child, which is child abuse, and grounds to legally transfer custody and/or guardianship to a foreign, private contracted Child Welfare NGO, like an institution, so the parent can go work a slave wage midnight job, so they can take the bus to visit their child during the day.

Yup.

But, visitation of residential institutions may be suspended, due to the coronavirus, but I digress.

SACWIS sucks, too, which is how these people "maximize revenue" because not for profits can not generate revenue when it comes to Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare.

Detroit Food Banks closing
due to the cooties

Just a nomenclature thang, you know.

https://newmibridges.michigan.gov/s/isd-welcomepage-citizen

MiLogin Slowness
The MiLogin system is experiencing extremely heavy traffic. If your MI Bridges session ends or you are having difficulty accessing your account, please attempt logging in later. The MI Bridges Support phone line cannot assist with the slowness being experienced or MiWAM (unemployment) site access. MiWAM for resident access here.
03/25/2020

We have food banks, now, but if you have no car, you have to take the bus, where you have to carry your food box back on the bus, but the food banks are closing due to the coronavirus, and it becomes musical locations for times and places of pick up, now.

But, I digress, again.

I am waiting for the system to crash and people be denied assistance.

Michigan likes to keep the SNAP funding for their "other" private contracted projects.

They like to use predictive modeling crap to see how much they can maximize for those Social Impact Bonds, you know.

I encourage everyone to apply for assistance, just to crash the system, skew data and demonstrate that Michigan needs to go into federal receivership for what they did to the people, particularly the children of the state.

#maytheheavensfall

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Just Another Example Of Why The Industry Of Trafficking Tiny Humans Exists - Food Is The National Security Of Health Care

The following comments are reaction to the article, below.



When you are unable to eat, there exists a strong probability that someone is going to do something they are not supposed to be doing, particularly when you are dealing with children.

When you can not eat, let alone properly eat, you become sick, where you can get others sick, but hey, what do I know?

I know there is a national, neigh, international emergency where the world is starting to learn about life as one of "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth).

I am just providing food for thought for these moments of enlightenment of the Quantum Renaissance.

Federal judge blocks Trump plan to kick 700K off food stamps

A federal judge in Washington, DC, issued an injunction on Friday blocking a Trump administration rule change that would have forced some 700,000 Americans off of food stamps.

The rule change would have required able-bodied adults without children to work at least 20 hours a week in order to qualify for “SNAP,” or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, benefits beyond the initial three months.

The rule would also have limited states’ ability to issue waivers to the work requirement based on economic conditions — for example, based on a coronavirus-fueled economic slowdown.

In his decision, US District Court Judge Beryl Howell noted the country’s virus outbreak as a reason to keep food support widely available.

“Especially now, as a global pandemic poses widespread health risks, guaranteeing that government officials at both the federal and state levels have the flexibility to address the nutritional needs of residents and ensure their well-being through programs like SNAP, is essential,” Howell wrote.

The rule would have taken effect in April.

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DOJ Bust Child Protective Services In Trafficking Tiny Humans Christian Operations

They all do it.

There are multiple schemes.

The main point I am trying to make is that it only takes a call to CPS and your life if over.

It is obvious that these churches did not file the proper paperwork for legal guardianship of the parents, otherwise, this would not have been illegal and they would have standing for all actions of asset forfeiture, which, of course, includes SNAP, Medicaid, vote, and use of identification to take out mortgages in their names.

The more you have in your human asset management systems for doing the work of the lord, the more you can financially leverage your operations and own properties, under religious land use, nonprofit exemptions and exceptions.

Without "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth) these christian operations would shutter, leaving people with no brick and mortar to worship the lord to save their souls from a life like those wretched souls they like to save.

The practice is called capitalism, otherwise known as the residuals of the peculiar institution.

Praise the lord.

Two Former Church Members Admit Forced Labor Conspiracy

SAN DIEGO – Jose Gaytan and Sonia Murillo, defendants affiliated with Imperial Valley Ministries, pleaded guilty to labor trafficking charges in federal court today, admitting that they participated in a forced labor conspiracy.

Gaytan and Murillo were previously indicted with ten other defendants on charges they held program participants against their will, coerced participants to surrender welfare benefits, and compelled participants to panhandle for the financial benefit of the church leaders.

Both Gaytan and Murillo admitted to conspiring with the other defendants to benefit financially from the forced labor conspiracy. In particular, both Gaytan and Murillo admitted defendant Victor Gonzalez, the former pastor of IVM, instructed all directors in charge of IVM properties to screw or nail windows shut and keep doors locked from the inside in order to prevent IVM participants from leaving. Gaytan added that Gonzalez and another IVM leader told him it was necessary to continue recruiting participants into IVM and prevent participants from leaving in order to increase fundraising proceeds for the benefit of IVM.

Murillo implicated additional defendants who punished her for allowing IVM participants to leave. Both Gaytan and Murillo added that various co-defendants had directed them to falsely instruct female participants that Child Protective Services would take their children, or fail to return them, if they left IVM.

IVM operated a non-denominational church headquartered in El Centro, and had opened approximately 30 affiliate churches throughout the United States and Mexico, including Los Angeles, Santa Ana and San Jose, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; and Brownsville, Texas. IVM’s express purpose is to “restore” drug addicts at faith-based rehabilitation group homes and raise money to open churches in other cities to do the same.

In addition to their church and main office, IVM owns and operates two women’s group homes and a men’s group home in the El Centro area. IVM also operated homes in Calexico and Chula Vista. Many participants were recruited from outside of El Centro, including San Diego, and as far away as Texas. IVM members allegedly induced participants to accompany them to receive free food and shelter with the false promise that they would be provided resources to return home. Many participants, including those who did not require rehabilitation services, claimed they were later held at IVM properties against their will.

The indictment alleges that all of the defendants confiscated identification documents in order to prevent IVM participants from leaving IVM and to maintain their labor. IVM leaders checked in participants at the IVM group homes, where they were required to sign agreements to adhere to rules, including never leaving the house unaccompanied, and turning over all identifications and personal items.

Both Gaytan and Murillo admitted they helped enforce the IVM rules by checking in new IVM participants, obtaining and using their Electronic Benefits Transaction cards obtained through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and requiring participants to panhandle on behalf of IVM. Gaytan and Murillo also pleaded guilty to a separate offense of Benefits Fraud based upon their unauthorized acquisition of SNAP benefits from others, in violation of Food Stamp Regulations.

Gaytan entered his guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Lopez and Murillo entered her guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge F.A. Gossett. Both are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz on May 5, 2020.

“The most vulnerable among us are entitled to the protection of the law,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer. “We encourage everyone to help identify forced labor victims in all locations or situations where exploitation is possible.” Mr. Brewer added that his office would be hosting a forum on forced labor on April 23, 2020, to bring together law enforcement agencies, non-governmental organizations, and community organizations that may encounter potential victims of forced labor, all in an effort to increase the identification of victims and prosecute those who exploit them.

Brewer praised FBI agents and prosecutor Chris Tenorio for excellent work on this important case.

DEFENDANTS                                            Case Number 19CR3255-BTM                                     

Jose Gaytan                                                    Age: 47                                   El Centro, CA

Sonia Murillo                                                  Age: 51                                   El Centro, CA

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

Conspiracy to Commit Forced Labor and Benefits Fraud – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 371

Maximum penalty: five years’ imprisonment and $250,000 fine

Food Stamp Act (Benefits Fraud) – Title 7, U.S.C., Section 2024(b)

Maximum penalty: 20 years’ imprisonment and $250,000 fine (If the benefits were $5,000 or more)

AGENCY

Federal Bureau of Investigation

*The charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

*This case is the result of the ongoing efforts of the Violent Crime and Human Trafficking (VCHT) Section. Formed in 2019, by U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer, the VCHT is tasked with leading collaborations between federal and local law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of cases involving violent crimes, firearms and gang cases; sex trafficking and child exploitation; civil rights, and labor trafficking. The VCHT Section oversees the Southern District of California Coordinators for Project Safe Neighborhoods, Human Trafficking, and Project Safe Childhood. The VCHT Section also provides federal prosecutors to the downtown San Diego Violent Crimes Task Force-Gang Group, the North County Gang Task Force, and the East County Gang Task Force.

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Day 177 Half Year Summary, Hillary's Hackers, Awan Brothers

What I Found and Didn't Find 

Omar Awan has cleared out of Fredricksburg Patrician Court house. 

Stepmom Salani, Marine on the Pedestal, and Omar's Truth - Like Jaskson 's Flanking Maneuver?

Enter Johns Hopkins, Temple, and Georgetown

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Day 163 - Hillary's Hackers, Awan Brothers Saga Deepens

Enter Steve Pieczienik and A Clockwork Orange Dr. Tahir Javed Causes Largest Hep C outbreak in US History



Enter Retail Pain Clinics, Suboxone, Methadone, and Medical Physicists From Las Vegas.

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Day 162 - Hillary's Hackers, Awan Brothers Saga Deepens

Javed's Rise To Power Though Starco Impex Enter the Javed Brothers, Largest Medicare Fraud in History, Methodone Overdoses

Dr. Tahir Javed Causes Largest Hep C outbreak in US History Enter the Javed Brothers, Largest Medicare Fraud in History, Methodone Overdoses

Enter Adel Rice Mills, Panama Canal, Port of Montreal, and Imran Rice Mills

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Michigan Privateer Daire Rendon Strips Civil Rights From "The Poors"

Michigan House Chair of the Standing
Committee for Families, Children & Seniors
Privateer Daire Rendon

If anyone wishes to be witness to administrative ineptness in the State of Michigan Legislature, well, here is your chance!

Below, is notice, pursuant to the Open Meetings Act to the rescheduling of the House Standing Committee Meeting of Families, Children, and Seniors, Rep. Daire Rendon, Chair.

I was planning on attending, submitting a formal statement, requesting time for public comment, and encouraging people to attend and do the same...but noooooo.

You see, the Open Meetings Act mandates that there is a minimum 18 hours posted advanced notice of the meeting.

This notice was emailed at 1:43 p.m., on March 1, 2017, exactly 2 hours and 47 minutes over the wire.

This is about the time it takes for one to drive during rush hour to the state's capitol, park, find the venue, and be seated.

"The Poors" were intentionally excluded as travel to the capitol is quite expensive and needs more than 21 hour notice to arrange transportation, whether it be public or private.

Now, consider this:

This meeting is what is considered the introduction of the Department of Health and Human Services administration to define and explain the operations of the Department.

Administrators will formally introduce themselves to the newly sworn Representatives and present their duties and roles within the DHHS.

Mind you, DHHS field operations is supposed to provide services to "The Poors", which is about half the state, so, what we have here is an issue of disenfranchisement.

I wonder if they are going to speak upon how the consolidation of DHHS offices is cutting the disabled, veterans, elderly and children from SNAP benefits, without due process.

Will Medicaid fraud in child welfare be discussed?  Probably not.

Will human trafficking, because people just want to survive when the state cuts social assistance, be discussed?  Probably not.

Is it possible for me, of all people, to generate and submit a formal statement into the public record?

Absolutely, because I have a blog, otherwise, it is not happening.

In the past, there was always included in the public notice instruction for the opportunity to submit public comment, but not in this administration nor in this legislature.

So, without further adieu, allow me to introduce myself to the Standing Committee of Families, Children, and Seniors, and Rep. Daire Rendon, Chair.

Excluding the public from public meetings is the first stage of stripping voting rights, or, more readily understood as privatization.

NOTE:  I am not going to give Rep. Daire Rendon a pass as she has been around for a hot minute.

We want more than minutes of the meeting, we want video, published, and social media is acceptable.  We want opportunity for public comment or I will do it for you.

Oops, I, like, totally forgot to mention that any requests for video recording must be made more than 24 hours in advance.

Drats, foiled again by privateers!

DATE: Thursday, March 2, 2017

TIME: 10:30 AM

PLACE: Room 327, House Office Building, Lansing, MI

AGENDA:
Presentation regarding human services from Terry Beurer, Deputy Director of Field Operations for the Department of Health and Human Services.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

To view text of legislation go to:  (Do not waste your time on the link and there is no legislation before the committee, or if there is, it is not identified in the link)
 http://www.legislature.mi.gov/mileg.aspx?page=CommitteeBillRecord

Committee Clerk: Taylor Thrush
Phone: 517-373-7256
e-Mail: tthrush@house.mi.gov

Individuals needing special accommodations to participate in the meeting may contact the Chair's office.

Schedule changes or cancellations available at http://www.house.mi.gov/publiccommitteeschedule/

3/1/2017  <=== This is the date of publication.  Seriously.

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Do Not Blame CPS, Blame Michigan

To begin, I do not believe these Child Protective Services workers should be blamed for the child's death for the following reasons, so let us start with the "Right To Lie" federal case which sets forth the question:

Wayne County CPS Workers Elaine Brown and Kelly Williams
blamed for the death of Aaron Minor

"Do social workers have the right to lie, generate false evidence, and submit into the public record for removing a child from the home."

In this report, it is unknown if these workers lied which is really not at issue here.

What is at issue are roles and responsibilities of the players in child welfare.

Let us take a bottom up look at statutory authority in the food chain of child welfare.

CPS operates as the intake under the powers of the State, not local, which means the role of prosecution does not fall upon Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, but instead, upon the State Attorney General.

Wayne County is the only county of the State where the State Attorney General prosecutes child welfare cases.

Next, upon review of the statements of the anonymous child welfare worker, who, obviously does not possess a legal background, fails to even realize that the one main, and constitutional, reason why the Detroit Police Department will not just bust into a home, based on what CPS calls "exigent circumstances", is because police are supposed to possess a signed warrant, not rubber stamped.

But, as I have always said, there are no civil rights in child welfare.

Continuing on up the CPS food chain, Wayne County Child Protective Services follow the policies set by the State of Michigan, under the leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services, where the latest Director Nick Lyon, who is too busy preparing for his legal defense, with the taxpayers dimes, is a tad bit too busy to address the egregious fraudulent billing, including civil and human rights violations of human trafficking in child welfare.

In child welfare, each state-county section of the state system has quota in the number of removals, and/or cases opened under child welfare, in order to maintain levels of operations and its federal funding.

If one ever took the time to do a time series of expenditures...what a minute, I constructed that model over a decade ago... one will observe, with crystal clarity, that it should appear as odd that each year there is not volatility in caseloads.

Same number of cases opened; same number of cases sustained; same number of foster care placements; same number of termination of parental rights.

This is what is called benchmarks and if the state does not meet its previous year's benchmarks, then, they lose federal dollars, of which I have alleged for over a decade, that the State uses a portion of federal funds (FFP) as its state participation rate obligations.

That is a major "no-no", but of course, state officials are too busy in the criminal investigation of the players in the Flint Water Crisis, oh, and I forgot to mention, still under federal oversight of its child welfare system.

But of course, for those who are loyal fans very well know, there were substantial errors in that particular case because HHS lied to the federal court.

Without going into my ad nauseum on that federal oversight case with Children's Rights, there was not a peep on the filing of false cost reimbursements or that magical and secretively omnipotent organization called Michigan Children's Institute, which has never been audited.

This takes us to the upper echelon of Michigan's child welfare administration where many of its leadership, civil servants and contractual arms, are playing the immunity game.

What I mean by the immunity game is that the state slammed through a bunch of laws, washing its hands of responsibility with its child welfare contracts, meaning, the Bureau of Child and Adult Licensing does not possess the authority to accept grievances, let alone conduct and refer suspected violations of law and policy to the Attorney General.

Heck, the Office of Children's Ombudsman (OCO) does not even refer suspected violations of law and policy to the Attorney General, because they still operate on that deflective policy of "valid-not-opened".

If, in the even the OCO actually does find violations, it is sequestered from the public due to those lovely privacy laws in child welfare, because, as we all know, well, at least the state administrators do, the Attorney General exists in that particular conundrum of contemporaneously "advising and advocating".

How can the State Attorney General prosecute these CPS workers when it is obligated to defend its actors while it prosecutes child abuse and neglect in Wayne County?

I cannot fail to mention that the State Automatic Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) sucks, badly.

Data reporting is not just incomplete by its users, but it is redundant and technologically arcane, intentionally designed to omit "certain" reporting variables.

Ok, in this particular case, CPS had a referral from a mandatory reporter to check on a mental health patient, who, more than likely, according to the report, was in a situation of "food scarcity".

Food scarcity is the fancy new term which means the state has significantly cut, or even, severed, SNAP food benefits.

Now, let us examine this particular component of the story.

The mother was poor, with mental health needs she was obviously addressing, which means to mean she was receiving Social Supplemental Income, federal welfare, as the national trend is to dissolve the social safety net without any replacement.

If she was receiving $733 a month, that means her SNAP benefits were cut to $18 a month, which includes a child in the home.

This means if she needed food, as the shift is to send the poor to the food pantries, praytell, my gentle readers, how is a mother, with disabilities and an infant, supposed to: (1) get to the food pantry without transportation as some set distribution in vehicle food lines; and, (2) get to and from the food pantry having to pay bus fare from her monthly allotment of $733, and pay her bills?

Let us not even waste our precious time to contemplate if the mentally ill have the ability to even execute this aforementioned food gathering task.

Drive through food line distribution of the week for a
family of 4. (Industrial case of mustard, 2 cabbage, 4 butternut squash,
pre-rotten tomatoes, 2 bags of rice, out-dated milk,
and frozen-thawed-frozen-thawing chicken quarters.)

But wait, it gets better.  The food pantries are running out of food.

I do not know about the rest of you, but to me, the unraveling of the social safety net for the most vulnerable, or rather, "The Poors", is a scheme to hustle more federal dollars through privatization, because someone has to make a profit and these poorly trained CPS workers. lacking of resources for proper referrals to prevent situations such as this tragedy, should not be held liable for the unintended death of the child.

The same poor quality of services can be seen in mental health.

They, the CPS workers, were, including the mother and the child she just lost, are part of the food chain in the perverse child welfare system which is only a foreshadowing of its final stage of privatization.

It is my belief that the workers possesses legal claims against the State of Michigan and should be approached by the legal community.

Call me, I will consult.

This is a principal-agent issue where the State should be blamed and federal court oversight should continue.

What say thee, Attorney General Bill Schuette?

CPS worker says colleagues not to blame for child's death CPS worker says colleagues not to blame for child's death

 

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"The Poors" and Public Corruption: A Punny Story

I have decided to create a new interactive segment to report public corruption.

I have not put it together yet, but it is going to work like this:

Leave a comment, send a personal message, email, text, Facebook, Tweet, your stories of fraud in government.

I will not use your name, but I will if you so desire.

I will do my very own analytical insight into the situation, identify the lawmakers and policymakers, then put them on blast for not fighting to end child poverty in the U.S.

Simple.  I shall go first, but I have so many stories.

A few years ago, before U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow took national credit from stopping the Republicans, for shutting down the federal government because there was not enough cuts to child poverty programs, offered her solution by cutting SNAP benefits.

In the Senator's defense, she did offer the fresh foods program, where there were few, if any place, during the time, to purchase fresh vegetables and fruit, and even fewer vendors who would have qualified to have participated, as Michigan had yet to set up a vendor reimbursement program for the small farmers and businesses.

Poor execution, pun intended.

But, then, only because it is Michigan and no one cares about child poverty, the Michigan Department of Human Services merged with the Department of Community Health and we all know what a mess that still is, because people, disabled, elderly, anyone who is a card carrying member of "The Poors" had, at one time, their cases closed so everyone could reapply to conform with the new IT system.

Back to my story.  Michigan initiated a campaign blitz to all its SNAP benefit recipients informing them that their date of "food stamp" allotments were to slightly change by a few days each month in order to save the state money.

What this meant was, if a person normally pays $50 for utilities, the itemized deduction would be approved at the new cap of $30, resulting in a drastic deduction of SNAP benefits, for reasons of exceeding the income requirement.

Poor guy, pun intended.

There was such an influx of increased membership into "The Poors" that the BRIDGES system crashed as it was never designed to handle so many of "The Poors".

Michigan found a solution by "automating", closing offices and getting rid of front line workers.

Everything went high tech, leaving many to experience, with the new 3 month and 6 month reviews, to ensure no SNAP recipient is defrauding the program, "The Poors" were being kicked off the rolls having to re-apply, due to system failures.

Poor thing, pun intended.

The process takes at least a month, and entire month where an individual, or more than likely, a poor family which means they have kids, will receive no SNAP benefits.

Poor babies, pun intended.

Who keeps the money?  Well, you will just have to ask Governor Rick Snyder and I do not believe he is speaking much in public these days.

Might want to check some of his legal defense funds.

Just being punny.

New Mexico Defrauds The Poor Out Of Food Stamps, Whistleblowers Say

Despite working as a home health aide in New Mexico for nearly two decades, Kimberly Jones was struggling to get the hours she needed to make ends meet. She was living in a hotel room, and every day she had to make a choice.

"Do I eat or do I pay for the room? Or how can I squeeze them both? Because, you know, the hotel wants their money," Jones says. "They don't care if you eat or not."

Jones applied for food stamps. She says the state worker she met with told her she was eligible for expedited assistance, and she'd get her benefits within a week.

But the money didn't show up. Not for two months.

In a recent federal court hearing, nine employees of New Mexico's Income Support Division — which oversees food stamps — took the stand to testify about fake assets being added to food stamps applications.

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Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr. for the Hearing on the “Federal Government on Autopilot: Mandatory Spending and the Entitlement Crisis”

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

Once again, in its 7^th hearing to date, this Task Force is considering old wine in new bottles.

Unfortunately, today’s hearing is just the latest in a decades-old line of attack by conservatives on America’s longstanding commitments to aid the elderly and the poor. 

As we consider the arguments made today, we should keep a few points in mind.

To begin with, efforts to curb “mandatory spending” and stopping the so-called “entitlement crisis” are really intended to slash programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

These programs comprise the great majority of mandatory spending in the federal budget.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, Medicare and Medicaid alone made up 40 percent of all mandatory spending in fiscal year 2015.

And, Social Security, Medicare, and the federal share of Medicaid – the largest mandatory spending programs – comprised 50.6% of all federal spending.

The budget deficit and the future solvency of the trusts that fund Social Security and Medicare are important issues that merit discussion.

But instead of putting forth a serious proposal that would help raise revenue, the Majority proposes to funnel these and other important social safety net programs through the annual appropriations process, a process that often becomes mired in partisan division.

And while the Majority may protest that they would leave Social Security and Medicare alone, keep in mind that the other important social safety net programs such as Food Stamps (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) only account for approximately 10 percent of mandatory spending.

If the Majority’s plan for reducing the federal deficit relies on cuts alone, you cannot do so simply by cutting funding for these other important social safety net programs through the appropriations process. 

Subjecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid recipients to an annual appropriations process threatens to harm the basic economic well-being of seniors and working people in need.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, without any government income assistance, either from safety net programs or programs like Social Security, the Nation’s poverty rate would have been 27% in 2014, almost double the recorded rate of 15%.

Imagine the harm it would do to the most vulnerable members of our society if the funding for these programs were held hostage to yearly budget negotiations or benefits were withheld because of a government shutdown.

Unfortunately, given the Majority’s track record, this scenario is entirely possible, if not likely.

Finally, Mandatory spending provisions are not an historical accident whereby Congress gave away too much power to the Executive.  Rather, they reflect Congress’ commitment to the American people to care for the elderly after a lifetime of hard work and to aid the working poor.

Mandatory spending for programs like Social Security and Medicare is based on the need to ensure stability in these and other vital programs so that the most vulnerable in our society can be assured of minimum income levels to meet their basic human needs.

Proposing to subject these and other programs to the annual appropriations process is not a serious proposal. 

It is merely another attempt to denigrate the working poor and the elderly as undeserving “takers,” something with which I will not abide. 

Nevertheless, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today and I thank them for their participation.

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MAXIMUS, The "Poors" and Medicaid Fraud: A Religious Love Story of Profit

If big banks are cashing in on SNAP, then what do you think is going on with the contracted administrators of State run child welfare programs?

My favorite mega corporate administrator of social welfare programs is MAXIMUS, Inc.

Notice how there is no access to information on Children and Family Services and there is a reason why, or rather I have developed an hypothesis which needs to be challenged.

MAXIMUS has contracts with multiple States in handling child support and adoption subsidies.  As a result, they have been found, only on a handful of occasions, to be found with their hand in the cookie jar.

Of course, MAXIMUS has always been in the mix when it comes to cashing in on federally subsidized welfare programs.

MAXIMUS is your "go-to" privatization corporation.  Yes, that is correct, MAXIMUS is a leading player in the race to privatize the social safety net and this is why:  Religious Freedom.

Yes, #MAXIMUS is a Religious Freedom Restoration Act advocate, whether knowingly or willingly.

Why?  Because you cannot audit God and they want the Social Security Trust Fund.

So, if you think Big Banks are cashing in on federal social welfare programs, never forget to look at the contractual administrators like MAXIMUS.

#MAXPAC

Medicaid fraud in child welfare is a secret cash boon for MAXIMUS.

MAXIMUS might get mad and tell God to cut off "the poors"

If the feds, and I most definitely include state and federal elected officials and administrators, are so concerned with waste, fraud and abuse in programs like SNAP, then I suggest they stop attacking "the poors" and start going after the biggest wasteful loophole in the social safety net, and that is the layers upon layers of creatively constructed administrative fees.

Lest we fail to mention, child welfare programs are excluded and exempted from any disclosure or scrutiny.  God forbid anyone challenges the corporate protocol of "the best interests of children" on the road to privatization.

The more "poors" created through economically sardonic policy initiatives (see the Ryan Budget House Budget Committee Report directly below); the greater the profits for the corporations who now claim to possess a religious belief.

This includes the Medicaid Expansion Tales.  (Coming soon).

By the way, did I mention #MAXIMUS ?  <==Click the link.

War on Poverty 50 by Beverly Tran

How Big Banks Are Cashing In On Food Stamps

Many welfare programs have gone high tech with debit cards and J.P. Morgan Chase and others are making a pretty penny charging users fees. What is there to be done?

The Agricultural Act of 2014, signed into law by President Obama last Friday, includes $8 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next decade. One way the bill proposes to accomplish these savings is by reducing food stamp fraud. When the new farm bill is enacted, many of America’s hardest working families will experience cuts in services and have trouble putting food on their family’s table. But there will be major gains for an industry that most Americans might not expect: banking.

Banks reap hefty profits helping governments make payments to individuals, business that only got better when agencies switch from making payments on paper—checks and vouchers—to electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards. EBT cards look and work like debit cards, and by 2002, had entirely replaced the stamp booklets that gave the food stamp program its name. SNAP is the most well-known program delivered via EBT, but they also carry payments for Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF); Women, Infants and Children (WIC); childcare subsidies; state general assistance; and many other programs. EBT use is widespread, from the corner store to the supercenter. According to a 2012 USDA report, SNAP funds, averaging $133 per family member per month, can be spent at more than 246,000 authorized stores, farmers' markets, farms, and meal providers nationwide.

Not only are the operating costs of delivering benefits by EBT lower—no paper checks to cut, envelopes to stuff, or postage to pay—but electronic forms of payment allow banks to multiply opportunities for revenue generation. Banks hold contracts with federal, state, and municipal agencies to provide EBT cards and services, collect interest on federal reserve money held for government programs (though not on SNAP funds), charge transaction fees for merchant use of bank technology and infrastructure, and levy penalties on users for EBT card loss, out-of-network use, and balance inquiries. Banks make money distributing government benefits if the economy is bad, because more people sign up for assistance; they make money if the economy is good, because rising interest rates mean more profit on the money they hold to distribute to beneficiaries.

Distributing government benefits is a lucrative industry. According to theGovernment Accountability Institute, J.P. Morgan Chase, which currently controls EBT contracts in 21 states, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, made more than half a billion dollars between 2004 and 2012 providing government benefits to U.S. citizens. In New York alone, J.P. Morgan Electronic Financial Services (EFS) holds a nine-year, $177 million EBT services contract with the State Office of Temporary and Disability Services (OTDA). New York currently pays $0.95 per month for each its 1.7 million SNAP cases. In addition, J.P. Morgan EFS collects penalties and fees from benefit recipients: $5 to replace a lost EBT card, $0.40 for each balance inquiry, $0.50 each time their cards are declined for insufficient funds, and $1.50 per withdrawal if they use ATMs to get cash more than once a month. While information about profit margins on EBT contracts is neither collected at the national level nor released by banks, EBT is a significant growth area for big banks. Last year, the Federal Reserve Payments Study reported that the number of EBT transactions more than doubled since 2006.

Electronic benefits delivery is such a rewarding business that banks seem to fear only two things: policy changes and bad publicity. The publicity problems of EBT programs became obvious over the last three months of 2103 when three major EBT system failure scandals erupted. The threat of policy change is perhaps less visible. New regulations could take distribution of these benefits out of the hands of for-profit banks, limit the fees they are able to collect, or mandate a switch from EBT cards to different kinds of electronic funds transfer with fewer opportunities for generating revenue, such as direct deposit. But banks have nothing to fear in the new Agricultural Act; it’s only good news for the finance sector.

The new farm bill lowers benefit levels somewhat, exempts new categories of people—college students, ex-felons, and lottery winners—from SNAP eligibility, and prohibits advertising to increase enrollment of eligible individuals, like radio and television campaign launched by the USDA in 2004. But the bill's sponsor, Representative Frank Lucas (R-OK), and other members of the House Committee on Agriculture seem to trust that detecting and preventing fraud will accomplish much of the hoped-for savings. The new Act includes numerous fraud-fighting provisions, including those that:

• Require merchants to maintain unique terminal identification numbers for point of sale machines, further restrict the kinds of food that can be bought with SNAP, and bar manual sales of food items without bar codes;
• Improve procedures and technologies to facilitate state-to-state and state-to-federal information sharing;
• Invite federal-state collaborative pilot projects to “identify, investigate, and reduce fraud” by merchants; and
• Set aside $40 million to help the USDA store information, such as food purchase data from chain stores and loyalty card companies, and data-mine it, by linking store sales and EBT transaction data at the household level to uncover purchasing patterns, for example.

In short, the SNAP fraud provisions will increase the ability of state and federal agencies to track who bought what food, where, and for how much. A vast amount of information on the purchases of millions of U.S. citizens will be collected by state agencies and private entities, stored by the USDA, and data-mined for patterns of EBT use that indicate fraud.

Why will this intensified focus on fraud work out so well for banks? First, banks innovate and control the most cutting-edge technologies that detect and prevent fraud in electronic funds transfer. The financial sector employs armies of computer programmers, IT specialists, and software engineers, and banks hold dozens of patents on biometric technology, data-mining systems, and payment tracking software. State and federal agencies can develop fraud-fighting code and procedures themselves, but many lack sufficient capacity and choose instead to contract with banks. Florida, for example, piloted an eight-month EBT abuse detection project in 2012 that was staffed by both J.P. Morgan and state employees, as Peter Schweizer reported in The Daily Beast. The anti-fraud provisions of the farm bill, thus, provide a significant opportunity for more, and more lucrative, contracts for banks.

Second, fraud in food stamps, despite public perceptions, is already low, and getting from very little fraud to zero fraud is prohibitively expensive. This is especially true for trafficking—the trading of SNAP benefits for cash—the most common form of SNAP fraud. Merchants and recipients must work together to traffic SNAP benefits. Recipients approach a merchant, who might offer 50 cents on the dollar to convert food stamps to cash. The merchant runs the EBT card, hands over cash, and then reports sales for reimbursement by the Treasury. Current fraud detection and prevention focuses on suspicious patterns—merchants who claim lots of even-dollar sales, recipients who spend all of their SNAP benefits in the first week of the month—but traffickers have adjusted quickly, learning to input odd dollar amounts and to spread requests for reimbursement over time.

The USDA estimates that the amount of SNAP benefits being trafficked has been reduced by 61 percent since 1993. According to a March 2011 Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) report, for the period of 2006-2008, trafficking diverted about 1 cent of each benefit dollar. Trafficking is difficult to detect and prevent, because retailers and recipients who commit fraud adapt as fast as banks, states, and the USDA can develop new data-mining and investigative procedures. This fraud-detection arms race is expensive and time-consuming for government agencies and contractors, and adds cumbersome limits and procedures for users—both merchants and recipients—most of whom aren’t committing fraud.

What cost are we willing to bear to reduce SNAP fraud to less than a penny per dollar? Federal and state government agencies invest astronomical sums in high-tech tools to address a financially negligible problem. For comparison's sake, while we lose $330 million a year to SNAP trafficking, Ashlea Ebeling of Forbes estimates that the U.S. government loses $40 to $70 billion a year to offshore tax evasion. Nevertheless, in 2012, the FNS conducted 4,396 undercover investigations of retail grocers suspected of fraud, at an undisclosed cost to taxpayers, identifying violations in about 40 percent of cases. In 2011, Alabama's RFP for EBT services strongly encouraged potential vendors to “recommend the use of new and innovative technologies” to “improve detection and prevention of fraud” and integrate biometrics in their proposals for the state’s SNAP program. The five-year Alabama contract, worth $51 million, went to Xerox, the same company that denied SNAP users in 17 states access to food for several hours when they shut down their EBT system without any warning last October.

Third, only three firms handle the majority of EBT contracts with states and U.S. territories: J.P. Morgan EFS (23 contracts); Xerox State and Local Solutions, Inc. (17 contracts); and eFunds Corporation, a subsidiary of FIS Global (11 contracts). On February 10, J.P. Morgan confirmed that it plans to sell its prepaid card business, including U.S. Public Sector and EBT programs, after suffering a serious data breach on debit cards used at Target stores and facing inquiries from Connecticut and New York about its lack of sufficient privacy safeguards and high card fees. This may leave even fewer players in the mix, and that’s a bad thing, according to Michele Simon, author of the report, "Food Stamps, Follow the Money: Are Corporations Profiting From Hungry Americans?", who provided a copy of the New York/J.P. Morgan EBT contract for this story. When so few firms control such significant market share, it implies limited competition and excessive market power. Simon suggests, in fact, that the recent changes to SNAP represent a large, mostly overlooked corporate subsidy. “The real policy challenge in SNAP is not fraud. It is the fact that we have an $80 billion a year program that does not solve hunger, and certainly does not provide good nutrition, but instead is a boon for banks, big box retailers, and junk food companies.”

If banks are secret winners, the losers are pretty clear: taxpayers, particularly those who receive nutritional support through the SNAP program. That’s one in seven Americans at this moment, and 52 percent of all Americans at some point in their lifetimes, according to Mark Rank, author of One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All. Put simply, the Agricultural Act of 2014 takes money from a program that serves the majority of Americans and gives it to banks and high-tech companies.

But it does something else. These provisions improve a system meant to collect information on the food purchases of more than half of the U.S. population, and fund the development of increasingly sophisticated technology to sift and analyze it. In the same year that we expressed shock and outrage that the NSA is collecting meta-information on our cellphone calls and Google searches, why are we acquiescing, even welcoming, a sophisticated new program to collect American consumer information? Do we really want the federal and state governments data-mining our grocery lists?

We need a solution that contains bank profits and prevents this kind of mass surveillance. The answer’s simple: stop trying to predict fraud, eliminate complicated rules about what can and cannot be bought with food stamps, and switch to direct deposit.

A key challenge of this solution is connecting benefits recipients with affordable bank accounts, because for-profit banks are not particularly interested in low-balance, high-transaction customers. But, according to Aleta Sprague, policy analyst in the Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation, strategies that focus on eliminating barriers to bank accounts will provide significant benefits for poor and working Americans. Connecting benefits recipients to the financial mainstream poses real challenges to both the public assistance system and current financial practices, but there are intriguing experiments already underway. In Washington state, for example, a collaboration of the Department of Commerce andBurst for Prosperity is connecting households on public assistance with affordable banking services and requiring that no-fee accounts be included in future EBT provider contracts.

“Instead of seeking to monitor and regulate every purchase a low-income consumer makes,” says Sprague, “we should recognize and capitalize on the potential of the public assistance system to serve as a mechanism for financial inclusion. That way, rather than constructing the safety net around distrust of the poor, we would leverage the system to increase families’ financial autonomy and capabilities.”

Direct deposit is more efficient, cheaper, and requires less administrative oversight. That’s why the IRS, Social Security, and Unemployment Insurance encourage us to use it. What direct deposit would not allow is paternalistic rules about how public assistance beneficiaries choose to use their resources to best support their families. Treating SNAP recipients like the reasonable, hard-working adults they are is not only simpler and less expensive; it is most just. 

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Michigan says parents are starving kids

“Children are starving, they’re hungry because their parents are abusing the welfare that we’re giving them.”

If that is the case, then call CPS.

The Bill is targeted to address cash assistance, TANF, and not SNAP (a.k.a. Food Stamps).  If kids are hungry, it is because benefits were cut and there are no jobs.

I want proof that parents are abusing the welfare.  One bad apple should not spoil the barrel.  Where is the empirical evidence that this is true and why did not the Democrats even ask for it?

The most controversial component of this Bill is not the requirement of suspicion-based drug testing for welfare recipients, it is its passage through the promotion of arcane stereotypes of "the best interests of the child".

If this is the case, concern for the well-being of a child, then all a DHS worker would have to do, as a mandated reporter, is make the referral to Child Protective Services where funding for drug testing, as well as treatment and access to greater resources, is cost-reimbursable through federal programs.

Michigan Senate passes bill on drug tests for welfare recipient

On a 25-11 straight party-line vote, with Republicans supporting the testing and Democrats opposing, the Senate approved the bill, which would require the Department of Human Services to set up a pilot drug-testing program in three counties.

The counties have not been selected yet. The bill included $500,000 to pay for the drug testing, which would be administered if DHS had a suspicion that the welfare recipient was using illegal drugs.

If they refuse the test or test positive, they would no longer receive their benefits. Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said the testing was needed to protect the children of drug users.

“The vote you’re about to take is not against the poor of this state. It’s for the children,” he said.

“Children are starving, they’re hungry because their parents are abusing the welfare that we’re giving them.”

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