Scott Walker’s yellow politics

[applegrove]

Scott Walker’s yellow politics

By Catherine Rampell at the Washington Post

http://tablet.washingtonpost.com/commentary/scott-walkers-yellow-politics/2015/02/13/1dde50c0-b2fa-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html

"SNIP................

Likewise, when Florida began drug-testing applicants for cash assistance in 2011, just 108 of 4,086, or 2.6 percent, failed. (For comparison’s sake, an estimated 8.6 percent of adult Floridians use illegal drugs in a given month.) The cost to conduct Florida’s testing was $118,140, more than the state would have paid out in benefits to the people who failed the screening. And that does not include the $400,000 in legal bills that the state has paid defending the law in court, only to see it struck down for violating the constitutional protection against unreasonable government searches.

None of this has stopped states from pursuing drug-testing mandates for welfare applicants, albeit using more careful wording to avoid the constitutionality concerns (though they may yet face their own legal challenges). At least 12 have passed such laws, and 12 others are considering them. In Wisconsin, Walker wants to test not just welfare applicants but also anyone applying for Medicaid, food stamps or unemployment insurance benefits.

Now, some people might say that these kinds of mandates are really about harassing and inconveniencing the poor, since there is little evidence that this population has high rates of illicit drug abuse. (Alcohol is actually the most common substance abused by the poor.) Others might say they’re really about funneling public funds to well-connected drug-testing companies. Or that our elected officials just want to score cheap political points, since no politician likes being branded as the sap who favors making it easier for drug addicts to suckle at the government teat.

Still others might contend that, whatever the motivation behind the proliferation of such laws in recent years, they are at the very least a gigantic waste of taxpayer money when you consider the costs of administering the tests.



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[Blue Owl]

1. Viva Velveeta

Fake cheese all around...

[Thinkingabout]

2. They should be testing themselves first.