A much-trumpeted, long-delayed bid to test random West Virginians receiving food stamps, unemployment benefits or "welfare" for drugs is doomed this session, The Associated Press reports.
Facing a Wednesday deadline to cross over to the Senate, the House rejected by 30-70 an attempt by its chief sponsor to wrest the stalled measure from the Judiciary Committee.
The House's 29 Republicans were joined by the bill's sole Democratic co-sponsor, Delegate Tom Louisos of Fayette County, in supporting the discharge motion from Delegate Craig Blair, R-Berkeley.
Update: Others with coverage include The Charleston Gazette, MetroNews, The Register-Herald and Public Broadcasting. The latter offers video and audio.
31 March 2009
Welfare Drug Testing Bill Doomed
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2 comments:
We'll just have to see what happens, though from the looks of it I don't think it will be pushed through. Personally I won't mind if drug tests for welfare recipients will occur.
This was a stunt by a frosh Republican delegate. Does your employer closing your workplace mean that you are taking drugs?
In my experience, serious drug users have a hard time meeting the other requirements of TANF, food stamps, etc. Addicts may attach themselves to these households through relationships, but not be the applicants. And frankly, the idea that being poor makes you a drug addict is simply untrue. Drugs cost money--a lot of drug users work for a living, if only to feed their habits. Employers have the right now, with cause, to drug test employees.
No mention of the cost of implementing this has been made concrete--a cost analysis would suggest that this is a poorly thought-out idea, thrown out just to make news. No wonder Republican ideas don't get a hearing in the legislature--they are few and mostly aimed at a temporary political advantage--not making effective policy. Of course, we have just had an expensive eight year experiment in Republican non-governance at the national level--Katrina looks like a minor disaster compared to the failure of successive adminstrations to regulate.
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