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Conservative judge halts monthly payment for low-income families in Democratic-run city after critics claimed the program was open to abuse
A conservative judge has halted monthly payments for low-income families in the Dem-led city of St Louis after critics claimed the program was open to abuse.
Circuit Court Judge Joseph Whyte has granted a 15-day injunction to prevent $220,000 in basic income being handed out to hundreds of poor residents.
It came in response to a lawsuit filed by former Republican Party chairman Fred Hale and counselor Greg Tumlin, who cited a clause in Missouri's constitution prohibiting the granting of 'public money or property to any private individual'.
The program was designed to give 540 low-income families $500 monthly payments, in echoes of similar taxpayer-funded 'guaranteed income' schemes being rolled out across the country.
But critics blasted the poverty projects after it emerged one mother-of-three in Washington DC spent more than half of a $10,800 lump sum payment on a luxury holiday to Miami, a new wardrobe for her children and a 'glow up' for herself.
Critics blasted the poverty projects after it emerged Canethia Miller (pictured), a mother-of-three in Washington DC, spent more than half of a $10,800 lump sum payment on a luxury holiday to Miami, a new wardrobe for her children and a 'glow up' for herself
Canethia Miller, 27, spent $6,000 on the vacation for herself, her partner and their three children, purchased 15 new outfits for the children and spent $180 on a haircut.
She was given the money through the first project in the country to offer money as a lump sum rather than monthly payments.
Similar programs in cities from Los Angeles to New York offer payments of up to $1,000 per month for three years with no conditions on how the cash is spent, DailyMail.com analysis revealed earlier this year.
The schemes, whose total value exceeds $125 million, have surged in popularity since the pandemic as progressive leaders embrace cash handouts to support Americans below the poverty line.
In St Louis, where this is now being challenged, former Republican Party chairman Fred Hale and counselor Greg Tumlin are arguing that guaranteed basic income violates the Missouri Constitution and city charter.
Their attorney, W. Bevis Schock of the Holy Joe Society, said their success in securing an injunction marked 'another good day for the taxpayers'.
'We uphold constitutional norms or the city will fail,' Schock told The Center Square.
In his eight-page order, Judge Whyte said he granted the injunction ahead of the payments going out because they would be 'nearly impossible to recover'.
St Louis Circuit Court Judge Joseph Whyte has granted a 15-day injunction to prevent $220,000 in basic income being handed out to hundreds of poor residents
A map of some of the country's largest guaranteed income projects shows participants are given up to $1,000 monthly for three years
Whyte said there was a 'strong public interest in temporarily halting the distribution of funds' to allow time for the court to consider the plaintiffs' case.
He added that there was 'no evidence presented at the hearings' to convince him that there would be any 'damages to respondents or to the public' if the injunction was granted.
The poverty program was signed into law by Democratic Mayor Tishaura Jones after city officials overwhelmingly approved it by a vote of 21-1.
Recipients would have been granted $500 a month for 18 months from the $52 million in federal pandemic American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated to the city.
Eligible residents are those whose finances took a hit due to the pandemic and who also have children enrolled in St Louis Public Schools.
Their household income levels must also be below 170 percent of the federal poverty level - or less than $53,000 for a family of four.