Reaction to Uplift Harris - "helping struggling families" "lottery socialism" - What's Your Point?
HOUSTON - Rodney Ellis, Harris County Commissioner Pct. 1
"Uplift Harris is about helping struggling families make ends meet, food on the table and keep the lights on."
Paul Bettencourt, State Senator (R) Houston
"You just give out money on street corners like popcorn, because that really is lottery socialism."
And there you have it in a "nutshell" - the fundamental debate over Harris County's controversial attempt to offer 1,900 low-income families selected by lottery, $500 bucks a month "no strings attached" for a year and a half.
This week, the "guaranteed income" program proposed by Commissioner Rodney Ellis and supported by Judge Lina Hidalgo won a temporary reprieve...and is almost certainly headed to the Texas Supreme Court - where conservative justices will decide whether the experimental cash stipends...are "illegal" as the attorney general claims....or an allowable measure to lessen poverty.
As we've reported more than 80,000 folks applied for this program - which Ellis and Hidalgo would like to see eventually expanded to all 750,000 residents, that they claim, are struggling to make ends meet.
- Ken Paxton sues to stop Harris County program
That of course, would cost billions of taxpayer dollars...and is why this Supreme Court decision is extremely consequential.