Minnesota wins USDA waiver on its welfare cutsMary Lynn Smith
Star Tribune
Published 07/18/2003
Minnesota state officials said Thursday that they now have federal permission to implement cost-cutting welfare reforms that could reduce welfare payments to 21,000 poor families.
That should put an end to a class-action suit filed on behalf of those families, the officials said. However, attorneys for Legal Aid, the group that filed the suit, weren't ready to quit.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Thursday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a letter sent to state officials, has approved cuts in welfare payments passed this year by the Legislature. Those cuts involve the Food Stamp program, which the USDA oversees. Legal Aid attorneys said Thursday they had just learned about the USDA letter and couldn't comment.
"I don't know that everything is fully resolved," said Ralonda Mason, an attorney with St. Cloud Area Legal Services. "The reason we filed the lawsuit is that we believed it was very important that the state follow the law and get a waiver [permission for the welfare changes], because we're talking about changes that will mean very deep cuts that will be very painful."
"If the state has [received a waiver], and it appears that they may have, then that's a good thing," Mason said, adding that federal approval for the cuts doesn't necessarily mean the suit will end. The suit challenges changes in the Minnesota Family Investment Plan (MFIP).
…Now, Legal Aid attorneys are eager to know whether the state will require about 7,000 welfare recipients to repay nearly $1 million in welfare payments. The recipients received the payments after Ramsey County District Judge Judith Tilsen issued a temporary restraining order this month, stopping the cuts before the state could implement them.
One of Tilsen's primary reasons for issuing the restraining order was her concern over whether the cuts were legal without a federal waiver.
Families would lose $125 a month for each person who receives Social Security payments for disabilities.
State Human Services Commissioner Kevin Goodno said Thursday that state officials have not yet decided whether to ask for the money back. It likely will be one of the issues discussed during a scheduled hearing Monday in Ramsey District Court, he said.
…Along with the planned cut in benefits this month, state officials are scheduled to implement two other reductions in welfare benefits:
? A $50-per-month reduction in benefits for families receiving federal housing subsidies. That cut, set to take effect Sept. 1, will affect about 11,000 Minnesota families, according to Legal Aid attorneys.
? Lowering the percentage of working welfare recipients' earned income that is not counted in calculating welfare benefits, from 38 percent to 35 percent.
Only two other states have tried to cut welfare benefits to families who also receive disability payments -- with mixed results. A similar plan was overturned in West Virginia, but another is proceeding in Idaho.
