D-H-S Director bemoans budget cuts

The director of Iowa’s Department of Human Services says the reorganization plan which’ll lay-off over 300 D-H-S supervisors is stretching her agency pretty thin. She says the cuts are exacerbated by the increase in people needing services.D-H-S director Jesse Rasmussen talked by phone this morning with reporters from across the state. She says when resources are reduced this dramatically, they’re pushed to identify their priorities. The reorganization plan does not lay-off front-line social workers who deal directly with the public, but instead gets rid of supervisors. It calls for closing some D-H-S offices and keeping some open part-time only. Rasmussen concedes federal rules about food stamps create a problem. The State of Iowa will have to get a waiver from the federal government in order to close some of the offices, as federal law requires food stamps to be acquired IN the county in which the recipient lives.