Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced last week that he would file a lawsuit against Harris County over its revised guaranteed income program.
in press releasePaxton slammed the “welfare system” and called the system “illegal.”
“Harris County is acting as if the Texas Constitution does not apply to them and as if they do not have to follow the decisions of the Texas Supreme Court,” Paxton said. “Spending public funds in this manner is clearly a violation of the law. Harris County appears to be trying to obstruct the legal process in a desperate attempt to get these funds into the hands of certain people as quickly as possible.”
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Attorney General Ken Paxton claims that the guaranteed income program established in Harris County, called Uplift Harris, is “unconstitutional.” (MediaNews Group/Boston Herald/Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Last month, the Harris County Commission voted to appoint Paxton was later defeated By the Texas Supreme Court.
The Harris County Board of Commissioners, elected by the four commissioners and the county judge, meets every two weeks. Judge Lina Hidalgo, a prominent progressive, serves as the county's chief executive officer. Government agencies created a guaranteed income program for the county called Uplift Harris. The original program provided selected participants with $500 per month for 18 months. Participants were drawn from the county's 10 poorest zip codes and lived below 200% of the federal poverty line.
For legal issues Following a Texas Supreme Court ruling, the Harris County Board of Commissioners imposed spending limits on participants.
of Revised version Uplift Harris will serve approximately 1,600 households, who will receive a debit card with $500 loaded each month to be used only for essential purchases, such as groceries and medicine.
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee opposed Paxton's latest legal effort, saying the amendments were in response to the state's concerns.
“Following Ken Paxton's lawsuit regarding the Uplift Harris program, Harris County launched a new initiative that addresses the state's concerns while providing economic stability to our neighbors who need it most,” Menefee said. said“If it wasn't clear before, it should now be clear that opposition to this program is not driven by concerns about the law but is aimed at using impoverished people as a political point-scoring tool.”
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Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee fired back at Paxton's latest legal efforts in a statement, accusing them of trying to score “political points.” (Harris County Attorney's Office/Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Menefee previously told Fox News Digital that the original version of Uplift Harris was “legitimate” and allowed county officials to “create a new program with spending limits to address the political challenges raised by Republican officials.”
Changes The program was approved last month.Hidalgo criticized “political posturing” by Texas leaders.
“They were very slow and inconsistent in combating it. As we discussed, the program was running just fine in Austin and San Antonio,” Hidalgo said.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo appears to be politicizing the death of Jocelyn Nangaray and the illegal immigrant suspected in her strangulation.
A majority of county commissioners voted to approve the Uplift-Harris plan, with one commissioner opposed.
Commissioner Tom Ramsey was the only member of the committee to vote against the program.
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“This lawsuit is not a surprise as the Texas Supreme Court has already ruled the program unconstitutional,” Ramsey told Fox News Digital in response to Paxton's lawsuit.
“I have warned my colleagues about the potential problems with evading judgments, and now we must waste even more taxpayer money fighting this. I have consistently voted against this program because not only is it outside the scope of county responsibility, but it will continue to be a shame to see taxpayer money wasted on this illegal effort,” he added.
The program was funded with $20.5 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Houston, Texas' largest city, accounts for most of Harris County's population.
