Bettencourt Attacks Anti-Poverty Program After $625K PPP Loan Forgiven
Senator Paul Bettencourt's fiscal hypocrisy shows the stark divide between personal gain and public good.
Senator Paul Bettencourt is a multi-millionaire deeply entrenched with the Heritage Foundation and ALEC. In 2020, Senator Bettencourt received a $627,224 PPP loan, which he never had to repay.
While Bettencourt sits in his $1.1 million Houston home on top of his mountains of gold, he’s decided to make people living in abject poverty the latest target of his ire.
Harris County, under the bold leadership of County Judge Lina Hidalgo, was due to launch a program this month called Uplift Harris, an anti-poverty program that would help the least of our society pay for food and basic needs.
Last year, when Hidalgo announced this anti-poverty program, I sang praises for her foresight and progressivism. You can read more about that here:
Universal Basic Income as an anti-poverty program has become popular worldwide, and it’s been attempted in several cities in Texas. In every single case, these programs work. They help elevate people out of poverty and have shown that this extra money is almost always spent on people’s basic needs.
Further reading (if you’re interested):
Washington Post: Universal Basic Income Has Been Tested Repeatedly. It Works.
Business Insider: Universal basic income is working — even in red states.
As AI, robotics, and automation will increasingly replace jobs over the next decade, programs like this will become necessary to keep crime low and the populace from starving.
However, it seems that in America, wherever there are people who are hungry, houseless, and part of the working poor, there’s almost always a fat-cat Republican hovering over them saying, “Let them eat cake.”
When the child tax credit slashed childhood poverty to a historic low, Republicans in Congress ended it, pushing millions of children back into poverty.
The situation is no different. Wealthy Republicans, especially those associated with far-right fascist organizations like ALEC, want to keep people in poverty. This isn’t capitalism that these Republicans are practicing. It’s crony capitalism, which seeks to limit upward mobility and keep wealth concentrated at the top.
Crony capitalists, like Senator Bettencourt and his millionaire donors, rely on labor exploitation and market inequalities to prevent the poor from accessing resources and opportunities to keep one class of people in poverty as they accumulate more wealth.
Bettencourt calls Uplift Harris “socialism,” but that’s the furthest thing from the truth. Republicans like Bettencourt throw around words like “socialism” and “communism” without the faintest idea of what those words mean.
Socialism, as an economic system, entails significant government control over the means of production and distribution of goods. It advocates for the whole community’s ownership and regulation of industries.
However, Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a specific policy tool that can be implemented within various economic systems, including capitalism. It involves regular, unconditional payments made by the government to all individuals but does not require government control over private enterprises.
Therefore, Uplift Harris is not a socialist program.
The primary aim of UBI is to provide a safety net for all citizens, ensuring a minimum standard of living regardless of one’s economic status or work situation. This is fundamentally different from the socialist goal of restructuring economic systems to eliminate private ownership of the means of production. UBI is designed to work within existing economic structures, not to overhaul them.
UBI has been supported by figures across a broad political spectrum—from progressives to libertarians—indicating its versatility and adaptability to different political and economic philosophies. This contrasts socialism, which generally has a more defined ideological and political stance regarding economic organization.
But, after all, we are living in the Third Red Scare, and we should expect this type of rhetoric from Republicans at all times.
Senator Bettencourt is a college-educated man. He knows the difference between anti-poverty programs and “socialism,” but this is how the GOP talks to their base.
In January, Senator Bettencourt sent a letter to AG Ken Paxton requesting a legal opinion.
You have to remember Ken Paxton is indebted to Senator Bettencourt because Bettencourt voted to acquit him, even though the crimes against Paxton were damning. Bettencourt wanted a lawsuit from Paxton, and that’s what he got.
You can read the entire lawsuit here.
Listen to Lina Hidalgo’s response, where she calls Paxton and Bettencourt cruel and anti-democratic:
Uplift Harris is no more a socialist program than Social Security or Medicaid. Bettencourt and Paxton’s attack on it directly targets Harris County because it is the largest Democratic stronghold in Texas.
Senator Bettencourt's attack on Uplift Harris is a misrepresentation and a deliberate distraction from the realities of poverty in Texas.
It is essential to recognize these tactics for what they are: a strategy to maintain power and control by marginalizing a segment of the population.
Harris County's effort to implement Universal Basic Income through Uplift Harris is a bold step forward in combating poverty and enhancing the quality of life for all its residents, regardless of economic status. In a state where nearly 20% of our children are living in food-insecure households, Lina Hidalgo is doing for Harris County residents what our Legislature has failed at for so long.
Harris County must understand the real intentions behind Bettencourt and Paxton’s political rhetoric. Republicans would rather see wealth concentrated in the hands of a few than support policies that genuinely aim to uplift everyone.
Programs like Uplift Harris offer a lifeline to those most vulnerable in our society.
Senator Bettencourt is up for re-election this year. Michelle Gwinn is the Democrat running against him. This is the first Democratic challenger Bettencourt has had since redistricting, and I’m not sure he’s completely safe (even though the maps were drawn to keep him there).
Bettencourt’s district is 56% non-Anglo, which in Texas usually indicates a blue district. Bettencourt’s alignment with the far-right on racial policies and anti-poverty measures should cripple him in a district like this. Of course, Gwinn's campaign will have to put in a lot of work, knocking on every door and calling every phone before November.
That’s why this 2024 election is so crucial to GOTV. There are so many Republicans in the Texas Legislature, like Bettencourt, who are dedicated to hurting millions of Texans and enriching the billionaires that run this state. But so many of them are vulnerable. In November, if we show up, we win. It’s as simple as that.
Vote early, vote often, just fucking vote.
Important 2024 primary RUNOFF election days:
April 29, 2024: Last day to register to vote.
May 17, 2024: Last day to apply by mail
May 20, 2024: First day of early voting.
May 24, 2024: Last day of early voting.
May 28, 2024: Last day to receive a ballot by mail.
May 28, 2024: Election day.
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the New Confederacy ...same as the Old C......pit poor whites against poor blacks...
revised to include browns.......
MAGA has done a hell of a job convincing poor whites their prosperity contingent on black and browns failing
This is always where their Pro-life bullshit falls apart. For fuck sakes I wish these voters would take their power back. My state of Minnesota is the exact opposite of Texas. Thanks to Governor Walz. However, I do live outside a small town without one stop light, 8 churches, 3 bars and 2 liquor stores. It's very MAGAQ and elderly. Minnesota has much to do in regards to its passive racism and not so passive. Its a problem. I have biracial family members. I got stories. But, we've done some things right. Walz was a teacher and coach before politics. Not a hedge fund guy. It can be done.
Nothing in Texas surprises me anymore. So many grifters. It's so enraging and sad at the same time. Especially when politicians took the 145 million from the poor and gave it to pregnancy centers without oversight so they could spend it on mansions and private jets. Whores. ALEC wants the Constitution to say one thing, We Own Your Ass.