Illinois May Require Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients

news.yahoo.com ^ | February 2, 2011 | Tamara L. Morris

[Angelus]

A bill introduced to the Illinois House seeks to require new applicants for Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) to undergo drug testing and subsequent substance abuse treatment if a drug test is positive. House Bill 0011 was introduced Jan. 12 by Rep. Jim Sacia (R-Freeport) and provides for the Department of Human Services to enact a "pilot program" for drug testing as a condition of eligibility for TANF.

TANF is a program that provides financial assistance to pregnant women and families with at least one dependent child under the age of 19 in the home. This is temporary financial assistance that provides aid for food, shelter, utilities and other expenses for recipients. TANF is a short-term cash assistance program and applicants must be Illinois residents, U.S. citizens or meet specified immigration requirements.

The drug testing program would be started in three Illinois counties and if it proves successful, it would become a statewide program. The bill exempts Illinois residents who are 65 and older or are a resident of an Illinois licensed nursing home.

The bill requires that a positive substance abuse test will be retested for a confirmation result and those who test positive again upon retest shall voluntarily participate in a drug treatment program. It is unclear whether the cost of treatment will be the responsibility of the State or if the applicant who tests positive will be required to pay for their own drug treatment.

While on the surface, many people see drug testing for welfare recipients as a positive step toward accountability, the concept itself raises more questions and concerns among Illinois residents. Concerns such as what a positive drug test will mean for children within the family are foremost for many residents interviewed.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

My real point was why not an ID to vote?

The article is about drug testing, so I went with that.

So do you consider verifying the eligibility of a voter to be an infringement of freedom?

[microgood]

So do you consider verifying the eligibility of a voter to be an infringement of freedom?

Not at all. The government has a right to know where you live and who you are if you want to vote.

I was mainly speaking to the Fourth Amendment, or what is left of it.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I was mainly speaking to the Fourth Amendment, or what is left of it.

The IRS alone pretty much did away with that.

[Graybeard58]

House Bill 0011 was introduced Jan. 12 by Rep. Jim Sacia (R-Freeport) and provides for the Department of Human Services to enact a "pilot program" for drug testing as a condition of eligibility for TANF.

He can introduce it until he's blue in the face. It still has to pass a rat House, rat Senate and be signed into law by a rat Governor.

[Mad Dawgg]

It "Sounds" good, BUT it smells of "letting the camel get his nose under the tent"...

[traditional1]

One could only hope ALL States pass 2 pieces of Legislation:

1) Mandatory Drug testing for ALL Public Assistance

2) Mandatory Photo ID for Voting, AND Public Assistance, including PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP.

[boop]

If someone is so poor they need assistance, where do they get the $ for drugs? My guess is they trade their EBT cards for cash, which goes for all kinds of goodies, like booze, strip clubs, gambling casinos, etc.

[Blue Collar Christian]

DING! DING! DING! Today’s winner.

[HiTech RedNeck]

This would not fly — it would catch too many big wigs.

[HiTech RedNeck]

what, you never heard of the illinois subsidized dope program?

just kidding

[djf]

Lol!

“The Happy Breed”

Of course they don’t need drugs anymore. All they need do is make sure the subject has an i-Pod and Comcast...

[PeteCat]

“How about drug-testing to get to vote?

: )”

Or buy a gun? Collect Social Security? Get married? etc. Once it starts - where does it end?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Tying outright welfare to that doesn’t sound so unreasonable. One could argue about Social Security at least as the pension supplement it was conceived to be rather than the Ponzi welfare fiasco it has evolved into, because they sure didn’t test you before taking the FICA tax.

[Howie66]

Being that it’s Illinois...I would say that they are on drugs. Good drugs!

[traditional1]

"y guess is they trade their EBT cards for cash, which goes for all kinds of goodies, like booze, strip clubs, gambling casinos, etc."

There is NO proof required to claim you're poor....you just do "cash" business, and there's no paper trail at all.

Likewise, convienience stores, groceries, etc. in the inner-cities have a "going-rate" for food stamp exchange for cash, and then the cash goes to the bling, crack, and tattoo parlor dealers, etc.

This is BLATANT, and four generations of certain ethnic groups have developed this as a "way of life"....except for those who also deal drugs on the side, to supplement their income, or steal cars, and whatever else they can steal to get added income in the black market deals for items.

Reality of the inner-city/Democrat-run cesspools is ALWAYS ignored by the State Run Media, and there are inner-city areas that even the police are afraid to enter......