Congress Votes to Allow Drug Testing for Unemployment Benefits

In a celebratory tweet Sunday evening, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) trumpeted a new law passed by Congress that makes it easier for states to make unemployment benefits subject to drug tests.

 The old rule, implemented under former President Barack Obama, mandated that states could only test applicants if they were looking for work in jobs that require regular drug screenings.

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But Democrats have warned that the new law essentially vilifies jobless Americans and plays into the often-false stereotype that unemployed people are more likely to use drugs.

Laws requiring drug screenings for people receiving government benefits have proven to be incredibly costly and find huge majorities of recipients are not drug users. Some state laws, such as one enacted in Flroida, have been deemed unconstitutional. Nevertheless, advocates for low-income people and Democrats from states in Republican control are expecting more drug-testing laws to be passed.

Congress passed this law, undoing an Obama-era Labor Department regulation, using the Congressional Review Act (their new favorite law) to avoid a filibuster in the Senate. The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to permanently overturn regulations enacted by the previous administration with a simple majority.

Source: http://fox6now.com/2017/03/15/congress-votes-to-allow-states-to-drug-test-the-unemployed-tmwsp/