The Campaign to Protect Children's Nutrition

The Austin American-Statesman reports that Texas’s decision to outsource food stamp processing to a private, for-profit company continues to be a disaster for taxpayers and residents.

To Texans applying for food stamps, it may not seem to matter whether their application goes through the state’s old computer enrollment system or the newer one.

But new state data show that fewer than half of Texas food stamp applications processed using the updated computer system, known as TIERS, are completed within the 30 days required by the federal government. TIERS average of 48 percent of applications within 30 days is significantly lower than the 90 percent under the old system, SAVERR.

That 48 percent — which is from December, the last month available — represents a steady decline from last summer. The federal standard is 95 percent. See page 26 of this report. Timeliness is also an issue for Medicaid applications.

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State auditor John Keel reported last year that because of chronic problems, TIERS is not ready to be used statewide.

On February 6 the Senate appointed conferees to the Farm Bill conference committee. These lawmakers negotiate with the House conferees to resolve any differences between the versions of the bill passed by the House and Senate. A provision in the House version that would protect children and families from having Halliburton-style contractors decide whether they can get assistance must remain in the final bill. You can contact Senators and ask them to support the Baca amendment on privatization by visiting their websites:

Democratic senators

Tom Harkin of Iowa

Max Baucus of Montana

Kent Conrad of North Dakota

Patrick Leahy of Vermont

Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas

Debbie Stabenow of Michigan

Republican senators

Saxby Chambliss of Georgia

Richard Lugar of Indiana

Charles Grassley of Iowa

Thad Cochran of Mississippi

Pat Roberts of Kansas

On December 14, the Senate completed debate on its Farm Bill and approved it by a vote of 79 to 14. Unlike the House bill, the Senate bill does not include language to protect the integrity of the Food Stamp program by barring private companies from determining who is eligible to receive Food Stamps.

Because the House and Senate bills are different, a conference committee of House and Senate members must negotiate to develop a final bill. Corporations are pushing hard to prevent the protective language in the House bill from being included in the final legislation. Contact your senators to urge them to oppose the efforts of corporations that seek to turn the Food Stamp program into a profit-making venture.

“There are serious issues with over-reliance on vendors/contractors in long-term or mission-critical roles,” “[T]oo often, they become fixtures at great expense and questionable [return on investment] to the taxpayers.’‘

- Transition team report to Gov. Ted Strickland, regarding the Ohio Office of Information Technology

Federal, state and local governments frequently hire contractors to provide products, such as information systems and defense systems, or temporary services.

However, ardent advocates of privatization have pushed for government at all levels to turn more government work over to private contractors, including the provision of ongoing public services.

Recently, major companies and their political allies have increased pressure on public officials to permit the states to hire a private contractor to act as an agent of government in providing public benefits to which millions of Americans are legally entitled.

While privatization of ongoing government services should be of concern generally, it is especially problematic for programs like Food Stamps which provide an indispensable lifeline to vulnerable Americans, including children, the elderly and the disabled.

The examples below (many of which involve the companies most eager to take over the operation of these critical public benefit delivery systems) demonstrate that privatization is no panacea for the provision of efficient and effective public services. It can fail and fail spectacularly. And if it fails in programs like Food Stamps or Medicaid the consequences for the people who depend on them can be devastating.