Bill seeks to require drug screening for jobless benefits

[Newsjock]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Legislation introduced by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) would require applicants for federally subsidized jobless benefits to fill out a drug screening questionnaire to determine whether they should have to take a drug test. Those identified as having a high probability of drug use would be required to pass a drug test.

"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.

The proposal has already drawn partisan criticism:

“This is just another attempt to demonize the unemployed, most of whom have no job for no fault of their own," said Rep. George Miller of California, top Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. "Why doesn’t he propose to drug test executives at Wall Street banks? It was their actions that have been documented to have directly contributed to the recession and high unemployment rate in the first place.”

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/12/want-...