The Chron now has a story about the lawsuit that has been filed over Texas’ inability to process food stamp applications in the federally-required 30 day time period. There’s not much in the story that we don’t already know, but I want to point this out:
“We have an obligation to do better for Texas, and we’re trying,” agency spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said, “but adding workers is a long-term solution because of the length of time it takes to train workers. So, it doesn’t provide the immediate relief we need in a short-term situation like a hurricane or what we hope is a temporary downturn in the economy. Workers are coming in early, staying late and working weekends to try and catch up.”
The hurricanes-and-bad-economy excuse appears to be the line of defense that HHSC has adopted to these charges, as Ms. Goodman said basically the same thing in this DMN story from last week. It’s worth noting again that problems with getting these applications processed in a timely fashion go back well before Hurricane Ike or the current economic meltdown. As such, they are nothing more than excuses, and should be brushed aside.
I found this organizational chart on the HHS website and wondered who is actually in charge of handling applications to the SNAP program.
http://www.hhs.state.tx.us/OrgChart/HHS/HHSC_OrgChart.html
Would applications for the SNAP program be funneling through the Eligibility Services department? Or would it go through a different department? In short, I think it helps knowing who’s running the department that’s causing all this ruckus.
Gee Li- on that chart, it would be Aurora LeBrun, who has retired. Her replacement is Elisa (?).
Pingback: The continuing HHSC saga – Off the Kuff