Brett Favre to appear before US House panel looking at welfare misspending

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre, who has repaid just over $1 million in speaking fees funded by a welfare program in Mississippi, is scheduled to appear before a Republican-led congressional committee that’s examining how states are falling short on using welfare to help families in need.

The House Ways and Means Committee hearing in Washington is scheduled for Tuesday. A committee spokesperson, J.P. Freire, confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday that Favre is scheduled to appear and was invited by the chairman, Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri.

Favre will take questions “per the usual witness policy,” Freire said. However, it’s unclear how much the Pro Football Hall of Famer might say because a Mississippi judge in 2023 put a gag order on him and others being sued by the state.

House Republicans have said a Mississippi welfare misspending scandal involving Favre and others points to the need for “serious reform” in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

“Democrats have failed to hold a single hearing on TANF or conduct oversight to identify ways the program could be improved,” Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee said in a November 2022 letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

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