Texas Attorney General challenges liberal county's guaranteed income program, calls it a 'welfare scheme'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced past week that helium is suing Harris County implicit their revised guaranteed income program. 

In a press release, Paxton slammed the "welfare scheme" and called the programme "unlawful." 

"Harris County acts arsenic though the Texas Constitution does not use to them and arsenic though they bash not person to abide by the Texas Supreme Court’s rulings," Paxton said. "Using nationalist funds successful this mode straight violates the law. Harris County is consenting to undermine the ineligible process retired of evident desperation to propulsion this wealth into definite hands arsenic rapidly arsenic possible."

SAN FRANCISCO SUED OVER GUARANTEED-INCOME PROGRAMS BLASTED BY CRITICS AS RACIST

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s suit claims that "Uplift Harris," a guaranteed income programme established successful Harris County, is "unconstitutional."  (MediaNews Group/Boston Herald/Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Last month, Harris County Commissioners approved changes to the programme aft the archetypal mentation faced ineligible challenges from Paxton and was aboriginal struck down by the Texas Supreme Court. 

The Harris County Commissioners is an elected assemblage of 4 commissioners and the region justice that meets bi-weekly. Notable progressive, Judge Lina Hidalgo, serves arsenic the county's main enforcement officer. The authorities assemblage created a guaranteed income programme for the region called Uplift Harris. The archetypal programme would person distributed $500 per period for 18 months to selected participants. Participants would beryllium selected from the 10 poorest ZIP codes successful the county, who are surviving beneath 200% of the national poorness line. 

Due to the ineligible challenges and the Texas Supreme Court ruling, the Harris County Commissioners placed restrictions connected participants' spending.

The revised version of Uplift Harris volition present service astir 1,600 families that volition person a monthly debit paper that is loaded with $500. The debit paper is constricted to indispensable needs similar market buying and medicine. 

Harris County lawyer Christian Menefee pushed backmost against Paxton’s latest ineligible effort, saying the revisions that were made addressed the state's concerns. 

"After a suit from Ken Paxton regarding the Uplift Harris program, Harris County created a caller inaugural that addresses the state’s concerns portion inactive offering fiscal stableness to our neighbors who request it most," Menefee said. "If it wasn’t wide before, it should beryllium wide present that the absorption to this programme is not astir interest for the law; it’s astir utilizing radical surviving successful poorness arsenic a means to people governmental points." 

JUDGE PUTS PAUSE ON ST. LOUIS GUARANTEED INCOME PROGRAM THAT PAYS POOR FAMILIES $500 A MONTH

Harris County Attorney General Christian Menefee pushed backmost against Paxton’s latest ineligible effort with a connection helium released publicly, accusing them of trying to people "political points." (Harris County lawyer general's office/Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Menefee antecedently told Fox News Digital that the archetypal mentation of the Uplift Harris was "legal" and that region officials were capable to "create a caller programme with spending restrictions to code politically charged challenges brought by Republican officials."

When the changes to the program were approved past month, Hidalgo called retired "political posturing" of Texas authorities leaders. 

"They were highly precocious and inconsistent successful warring against it. As we’ve discussed, the programme had tally successful Austin and San Antonio without issues," Hidalgo said.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo seemed to politicize the decease of Jocelyn Nungaray and the amerciable immigrants suspected successful her strangulation death.

While a bulk of the county's commissioners voted to o.k. the Uplift Harris program, determination was 1 commissioner who opposed it. 

Commissioner Tom Ramsey was the lone idiosyncratic connected the committee to ballot against the program.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"The Texas Supreme Court already ruled this programme arsenic unconstitutional, truthful this suit is nary surprise," Ramsey told Fox News Digital successful effect to Paxton's lawsuit.

"I warned my chap colleagues astir the imaginable issues of circumventing the ruling, and present we’ll person to discarded much payer dollars connected warring this. I’ve consistently voted nary against this programme due to the fact that not lone does it autumn extracurricular of the county’s purview of responsibilities," helium added. "It’s disappointing that payer dollars volition proceed to beryllium wasted connected this amerciable initiative."

The programme was funded with $20.5 cardinal from the national American Rescue Plan Act. Houston, the largest metropolis successful Texas, makes up astir of Harris County's population.