$24 Million

Capitol Annex quoted us regarding the rumor mill about the funding FNS will not be providing- and I wanted to expand on that....

The $24 million (according to the rumor) is money that the Feds gives the State to run the program. I'm not sure what the dollar to dollar ratio is (ie. Feds give $2 for every $1 the State spends to run the programs)...but the money is for the quarter since TAA/Privatization is NOT following Federal guidelines in issuing Food Stamps. It's not what is or isn't in the cuts in the Federal budget.

Basically- as with anything else- if the State doesn't run the program properly- the Feds withhold THEIR portion of the funding...which means Texas gets to pay the whole thing 100%. This amounts to the taxpayers footing the entire bill (irregardless of who the private contractor may or may not be- the State of Texas is ultimately held 100% accountable for the accuracy and accountability of the program). Now is the time for Mr. Hawkins to start holding Bermuda based Accenture, LLC accountable.

Rumor also has it that the Great Eric Bost will be in Austin tomorrow (May 17th) to have a meeting with our Commissioner. As you may or may not know, Mr. Bost is a former Commissioner of the now defunct DHS (Department of Human Services). When Mr. Bost was our Commissioner, Albert Hawkins was over the Budget and Planning Committee under then Governor George W. Bush........when Mr. Bush became President, Mr. Bost left his post as head of DHS and was appointed as the UnderSecretary for the FNS (Food & Nutrition Services-USDA) in Washington DC. Then as luck would have it, Albert Hawkins was then appointed Commissioner of the newly created Health and Human Services Commission (which now includes DHS). Wonder what that meeting will bring..........

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