Leo Ribas, head of community services at the Department of Social and Health Services, says there’s a method to the state’s madness....Clever. And also everything that's wrong with the combination of federalism and the welfare state.
He says if the state’s food stamp recipients receive just $1 for energy bill assistance, that qualifies them for extra federal assistance. That means someone like Nelson could receive about $30 more per month in food stamps.
Sending out $1 checks cost the state $250,000. DSHS says that could bring the state and additional $43 million in federal funding....
"I think it's an issue of maximizing the federal regulations to the advantage of Washington residents,” said Ribas.
Feb 22, 2009
it takes money to get money
Why would the state of Washington send welfare recipients measly $1 checks?
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The reason it is so hard to cut state spending is this exactly. A good deal of the money the state spends is to leverage federal or private dollars. Pretty much every agency can produce charts that show how much money their money generates for the state. I do love bureaucracy.
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