Drug testing for government assistance is a big trend among Republican state legislators and governors over the last few years, and they’ve run into a number of snags along the way—little things like constitutional concerns about unreasonable search and seizure, the repeated discovery that you don’t get very many positive results when you drug test people just because they’re poor, that kind of thing. When Republicans have tried to impose drug testing on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program applicants, they’ve also run into the problem of the federal government saying “you can’t do that.”
Naturally, some congressional Republicans would like to get the government out of the way of wasting money to stigmatize and hurt poor people.
On Thursday, [Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL)] unveiled a measure that would give states the option to drug test people who need food assistance.
Aderholt argues that the change would save money. Savings from welfare drug testing regimes comes from having to spend less on benefits as more people are denied over the tests. It would also narrow eligibility for the program for people who automatically qualify through federal heating assistance. His office estimates that the savings would amount to about $1.2 billion.
He also claims it would help people with substance abuse problems. “This is a compassionate way to try and help these people who have issues, instead of turning the head,” he told the Associated Press.
Yes, hunger is a super compassionate way to help people with substance abuse problems. And their kids, too!
Again, numerous Republican drug-tests-for-benefits plans have found that the savings from turning people down for the help they need were grossly exaggerated ahead of time. So while Aderholt’s plan to tighten eligibility related to heating assistance might save money (remember that here you save money by taking food out of the mouths of people who don’t have enough of it), the drug-testing part is much more about labeling low-income people as undeserving deadbeats than it is about actually saving money.
