[oh8eleven]

If you want an unemployment check or other state benefits ...
I thought unemployment was paid for by the company doing the downsizing?

[tatsinfla]

i agree that anyone in any state signing up for any kind of freebies should take a drug test....and not just once...

[pnh102]

I'd expand this to legal drugs too. People who can afford to buy cigarettes or alcohol do not need government checks.

On top of that, I'd have any welfare (not UC) recipient have their records cross checked with broadband providers, cell phone providers and other luxury subscription services and if they have any of these things, no checks for them.

[microgood]

Drug tests are unconstitutional without probable cause. But since, all drug warriors hate the Constitution with a passion, this is not a problem for them.

[FrankR]

"Harbin bill would require drug tests for benefits"

I support that 10,000%. Unemployment, welfare, section 8, all of it.

And add to that, these unwed mothers on subsistence with a bunch of kids should be required to show school attendence records for each kid, and each kid should maintain a C or better average to get the money.

We all have to meet conditions to get OUR money, yet those people get OUR money without conditions...WTF.

And I don't really give a damn what the labor (unions) and advocacy (drugs) groups think or say, they are citizens just like the rest of us, and we are a nation of laws, not men.

Go for it Congressman Harbin, go for it.

[FrankR]

furthermore, to make his point, if the welfare wonks don't have to take a drug test to get paid, then introduce a bill making drug tests illegal for everybody...government and private sector. That should cause enough uproar to consider the original alternative.

The left's "hot button" is "fair"...so let's make it fair.../sarc

[Sir Gawain]

Mandatory drug tests for legislators too.

[Oldpuppymax]

Gee whiz, that’s pretty rough, isn’t it! After all, coke-heads and heroin addicts make WONDERFUL workers, don’t they??!!

[Jackknife]

Slippery slope. Bad idea.

[JenB]

The jobs I have had, and the jobs my husband has and currently does work, require random drug screenings as a condition of employment. Why shouldn’t welfare bums have to face the same process?