Federal Unemployment Benefits Drug Test Bill Introduced [View all]

[The Straight Story]

Federal Unemployment Benefits Drug Test Bill Introduced


A Republican congressman from Georgia has filed a bill that would require applicants for federally funded unemployment benefits to do a drug screening questionnaire. Those who are identified as having a high probability of using drugs would have to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits and they would be subject to random drug tests while receiving benefits.

Last week, Rep. Jack Kingston introduced HR 3601, the Ensuring the Quality of Unemployment Insurance Program (EQUIP) Act, portraying it as a money-saving measure for the cash-strapped federal government.

"Drug screening as a condition of unemployment benefits safeguards valuable taxpayer dollars by ensuring job seekers are at their competitive best for re-employment and helps to reduce the nation’s debt by not using federal resources to enable an individual’s drug dependency,’’ Kingston said in a letter to colleagues seeking their support.

But he only cited only apocryphal evidence that drug use among unemployment recipients is a problem worthy of federal legislation.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/dec/12/federal_unemployment_benefits_dr

Saw this over on DU2 but not here.