Quinn on Fingerprinting for Food Stamps
January 5th, 2012
Gov. Andrew Cuomo seemingly went after the city’s policy of fingerprinting people who want access to food stamps in his State of the State Address. The Bloomberg administration has supported the measure as a way to stop fraud and Bloomberg dismissed Cuomo’s statement in a press conference following the speech. Council Speaker Christine Quinn just weighed in via press release and she is taking Cuomo’s side.
“In these tough economic times, we need to help New Yorkers get the federal services they qualify for, not put obstacles in their way. Unfortunately, Mayor Bloomberg and I couldn’t disagree more — fingerprinting food stamp applicants is a time consuming and unnecessary process, which stigmatizes applicants and has prevented 24,000 New Yorkers from getting the help they deserve. The State has the authority to eliminate finger imaging in New York City, and the Mayor should not even think of challenging Governor Cuomo’s decision.”
Cuomo said in his State of the State yesterday that, “One of the things we do now and makes the stigma actually worse and creates a barrier for families coming forward to get food stamps is we require fingerprinting. I’m saying stop fingerprinting for families,” said Cuomo.
Bloomberg told reporters, ““It’s not a stigma, and it may be elsewhere in the state, and maybe that’s what he was referring to, but it’s certainly not a stigma.”
By David King on January 5, 2012, 4:51 pmIn category: Albany,City Hall,Eye on Albany,Gotham City,Governing,Health,Social Services | 2 Comments »
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