Posted on 05/20/2015 6:04:07 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A controversial drug testing proposal will remain in the state budget.
The legislature’s Joint Finance Committee on Tuesday approved requiring those receiving public benefits to submit to drug testing. Those who fail would get taxpayer funded treatment, which Joint Finance Committee co-chair John Nygren (R-Marinette) said will help them break the cycle of addiction and become employed. The Marinette Republican said “it’s a better alternative than our corrections department. It’s a better alternative than ending up on welfare for God knows how long.”
Democrats spent over an hour criticizing the proposal, noting that Wisconsin is unlikely to receive the waiver that would be needed to keep federal funding from being jeopardized. State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) called it a “half-baked” idea, which does not have the support it needs in place to make it work. She also noted that the cost of the program remains unclear at this point.
Democrats said the requirement would also face an almost certain court challenge, as it has in other states, likely costing Wisconsin taxpayers even more money to defend it.
The budget provision was adopted on a party-line vote.
I like this idea.
There is a good point here about the program having little chance to receive the necessary HHS waiver.
So, as laudible as the program’s stated goals might be, it is grandstanding to pass this bill knowing that it won’t see the light of day.
This is so typical of the GOPe modus operandi - passing bills that have no chance of implementation and refusing to take the fight to Obama on issues that matter.
Where was Walker when the real fights against Obamacare and Amnesty were being fought? Not on the battlefield.
" Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a frontrunner in many 2016 GOP presidential polls in recent weeks, has come out swinging against the deal House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) just cut with congressional Democrats to fund President Obama’s executive amnesty.
The basis of his opposition to the deal is twofold.
First, he doesn’t agree with the way it surrenders Congress’ power of the purse to Obama through at least the end of September, the current fiscal year.
Second, Walker is furious that Democrats who publicly stated many times they opposed the president’s actions didn’t follow through and vote their stated positions.
Also, Walker—whose state of Wisconsin is part of the Texas-led 26-state lawsuit against the president’s actions—says that in addition to states fighting this in court, the Congress needs to do its job to stop Obama, a job that Congress has thus far failed at. Federal judge Andrew S. Hanen has put Obama’s executive amnesty on hold until appeals are completed in the court system–something the administration has reluctantly agreed to comply with.
“The Governor was one of the first to join the lawsuit that has been successful, at least on this initial technicality,” Walker spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski tells Breitbart News. “He hopes to prevail through the courts but he believes that the Congress needs to preserve the power of the purse to fight this overreach by the President. Democrats have questioned the president’s overreach in the past but didn’t hold him accountable when given the opportunity.”
This draws a sharp contrast between Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who hasn’t taken any position on whether Congress should use the power of the purse to stop Obama’s executive amnesty. In fact, Bush’s team hasn’t responded to requests for comment from Breitbart News on that matter over the course of the weeks since Hanen’s ruling. But the day after Hanen’s ruling, Bush said via Facebook that Congress needs to pass amnesty–and that he essentially agrees with the Obama’s policies, just not the way the president acted."...
“...Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate announced Monday that the party has paid for billboards in Milwaukee and Green Bay that call on Walker to return to Wisconsin, accept federal money to expand Medicaid — a move the governor has steadfastly refused and get back to work for the state...”
WISCONSIN
Lawsuit: The state’s former Democratic governor opposed the lawsuit. But when Republican Gov. Scott Walker took office in 2011, the state’s Republican attorney general got permission to join the Florida lawsuit.
Medicaid: In February, Walker announced that he would not accept the federal Medicaid expansion, instead putting forward his own plan to require more people buy private health insurance.
Exchange: In November, Walker said he would not set up a state health insurance exchange, arguing that the federal rules were too restrictive and that the state did not need one.
Navigators: The state’s commissioner of insurance requires navigators obtain a license that requires passing a written test, criminal background investigation and securing a $100,000 bond.
More: In 2011 and 2012, Walker returned two federal grants the state had received to do preliminary work on a state insurance exchange.
Anyone receiving public money should be drug tested, Including public employees, judges, and politicians.
And, the pinko party whines on. The dumocrats have devolved into a bunch of simpering babies that whimper about anything that might help improve the state but limit their incestuous relationship with the unions and their bought and paid for votes from the underclass they created.
Nothing must be allowed to interfere with the buying of underclass votes to keep politicians in their phony-baloney jobs.
I wonder how big the federal funding is. This is a good idea. Sometimes you have to do what is right, show that it works, and let the federal funding catch up later.
“....The idea expands on another requirement passed by Walker and Republicans in 2013 to make able-bodied FoodShare recipients receive job training.”.....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3285961/posts#2
Last I heard, a drug conviction barred one from getting federal education loans - why should governmental sitting-on-your-rump grants be any less restricted?
I agree that we should fight on issues that matter.
But I also think it’s good to do this sort of “grandstanding.” It gets the issue out in the public eye. It forces people to think about welfare in a new way. Far, far too many people think of welfare as charity for the needy instead of what it has become - payoff to democrat voters, public funding of drug and alcohol habits, the perpetuation of dependency in generation after generation, the encouragement of births out of wedlock and fatherless homes, jobs program for social workers who have a vested interest in perpetuating poverty rather than eliminating it, payoff to political cronies, ....
And no treatment to mitigate immediate termination of employment and benefits.
Walker simply picks his battles on his own schedule. Good for him.
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