House vote hits Indiana welfare plan / Farm bill would undo privatization effort, an act state says will cost $125M to scrap
Source: By Maureen Groppe and Karen Eschbacher, Indianapolis Star, July 28, 2007
The House passed a farm, nutrition and energy bill Friday that would force Indiana to undo its private contract for screening food stamp applicants. "We feel it is fundamentally unfair," Mitch Roob, secretary of Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, said of a provision in the bill that would bar states from hiring private contractors to screen food stamp applicants.
……. Lettie Oliver, associate director of Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said Friday's action was a step in the right direction because it would return the running of Indiana's welfare system to state employees. Oliver said privatizing welfare erodes transparency and accountability because a private company doesn't have to answer to the public the way the government does.