An amendment to tighten regulations around the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families fund has failed in Mississippi’s legislature in a last attempt by lawmakers to amend state code to prevent fraud. Several hearings have been held within recent months to better understand what happened to allow these funds to be misspent, and how the Department of Human Services could prevent future fraud. Democratic Senator David Blount of Jackson offered the amendment to an appropriations bill for DHS.
“Typically this legislature will defer to agencies on discretionary spending providing they use those funds legally. We all know for many years those funds were not used legally,” says Blount. “However, even if they are used legally, in this case, we need to step up and take more control and more oversight of this money because of the clear record of the department.”
The funding is intended to help low-income families, but instead, it was funneled into private investments for wealthy individuals. Former leadership from the Department of Human Services has been convicted of fraudulent spending along with former pro wrestlers and leaders of a private school. Blount says this appropriations bill is likely going to conference for further debate and says the legislature needs to take action.
Blount says “We need to take more direction and specify how this TANF money ought to be spent so it can help the people who need it, so it can be used more effectively than it has been used.”
The sponsor of the appropriations bill, Republican Senator Kevin Blackwell of Southaven, says he doesn’t disagree with the need to tighten these regulations but asked the body to vote against the amendment without more research. The amendment failed, and lawmakers can now only address the issue this year through closed discussions in conference.
