In his latest report, Sen. Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles County, touts the new law requiring drug testing for welfare recipients:
To even a casual observer, it is clear that government spending in Washington, D.C. is out of control. Much of this is due to the expansion of programs that were meant to be a safety net, but now require ever increasing amounts of cash. While our state budget in Missouri must be balanced each year (unlike the budget of the federal government which is hopelessly "in the red"), the policies coming out of our nation's capitol directly impact us since many social programs are a joint state-federal effort.
Here in Missouri, we are serious about making sure that those who are on government assistance programs are really in need of them and are using the money wisely. To that end, this session we passed a bill that would require the Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) to screen individuals getting welfare benefits if there is reasonable suspicion the recipient is using illegal drugs. If a recipient is found to be using drugs, that person will be ineligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits for three years. A recipient can, however, continue to receive benefits if he or she successfully completes a substance abuse treatment program and may receive benefits while in treatment.
Also, great care was taken by the Legislature to ensure that children in the household are still eligible for benefits - regardless of the actions of their parent or guardian.
Every morning, thousands of Missourians go to work to provide for their families. It is fundamentally unfair that someone would use the tax dollars paid by these citizens to support their own drug addictions.
House Bill 73, which makes the first real changes to TANF that we’ve seen since federal welfare reform happened in 1995, has now been sent to the governor for his signature.
2 comments:
When will these same politicians also be drug tested as they are also on state benefits. The same laws you pass for others should apply to you as well.
I can say honestly, and as a liberal, this is long overdue.
I work in the grocery business. The WIC program is a good program, it is specific in what a mother can buy for her child. She cannot buy junk food, prepared foods...only food like milk, juice, cereal...
Food stamps, on the other hand has almost no regulations. No alcohol or cigarettes BUT plenty of soda, chips, and candy .... time and again we see the same abuses. Small children who don't know what a cooked meal is, they survive on "munchie" type food and cheap TV dinners. It is so sad.
Sometimes the person is obviously high, but many times they are completely ignorant of how to feed a family. You hardly ever see a food stamp customer buying a 10lb bag of potatoes or canned veggies. Mostly junk and frozen foods.
The same restrictions that apply to WIC should apply to food stamps along with the provisions that the person be drug tested.
When you see these abuses in person with little children dragging along behind these people you realize the magnitude of the problem.
It's not a partisan problem, it's all our problem. I wish the whole country could see what I see, if Congress could they would radically overhaul this program immediately.
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