Congress Okays Drug Tests for Unemployment Benefits

CountNoAccount · 3 months

Notice they won't test for alcohol. If you want to spend your insurance benefits on getting drunk, go right ahead.

ChaosMotor · 3 months

Nothing like a massive, indefensible waste of taxpayer money while abrogating the rights of the people.

SkunkMonkey · 3 months

So when do we get to test our masters for drugs? I have to imagine that most of Congress is fucked up on drugs. I mean, just look at this shit legislation they are foisting on us.

At what point do we agree the Congress is no longer acting in the best interest of the people who they are supposed to represent? We better find out soon, because if we don't it will be too late to do anything about it!

xxxsirkillalot · 3 months

I'm fairly certain this theory was tested in the USA already and more than 99% of the people on welfare where clean. This cost the government somewhere in the millions of dollars of losses (because they have to pay companies to drug test the people on welfare) and saved them next to nothing.

andrewse · 3 months

Does congress really believe that once someone is refused social benefits they simply disappear? You pay in to unemployment insurance while smoking the odd joint. If you get laid off you are then refused unemployment insurance for failing the drug test. So far you've not spent one dime of UI money on drugs. Next to the welfare office where (I assume) you'll also soon have to pass a drug test. When you are refused help where do you go?

What an enormous waste of resources. In the end the worker is cheated out of his/her UI payments and the state ends up paying out way more money because the worker now has to steal to survive. Not to mention the cost of drug testing that will likely eclipse the money saved on UI payments.

Why is US so determined to push it's citizens into lower and lower classes of society? What happens when there's so many people living destitute or in prison that the country can no longer support itself? How many more years are left before that happens?

CountNoAccount · 3 months

Lost your job? You are now guilty of being a drug user. You are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. Thank you, Republicans for adding a whole new stigma to being unemployed: suspected drug user.

NichaelBluth · 3 months

what was the actual bill number so I can look it up and the voting record?

Re-Bone · 3 months

It looks to me like this bill will increase unemployment while increasing the illicit drug trade. Way to go. As an employer, I think this will save business owners money on unemployment in the long term, which is good. But it sure does seem like an invasion of privacy, and I am not sure it's worth the tradeoff. Of course there are easy ways around drug tests, so the whole issue is moot. It's just more of our rights eroding away before our eyes....

mrgreyshadow · 3 months

"None of those workers was laid off because of drug use."

I twitched audibly.

Toadette · 3 months

I wonder if the drug test lab companies helped lobby for this, considering they now have guaranteed profits from government funds to pay for all these extra tests?

MesaDixon · 3 months

I swear it took three tries to convince me this wasn't an article from The Onion.

mjpirate · 3 months

What a waste of money. We will now be using federal money to make lab techs test urine that other labs put together, ala fake urine samples, under $40 a shot.

Radar_Monkey · 3 months

While I may advocate drug testing for certain dangerous fields, this is ridiculous. I know that drug use can interfere with employment opportunities, but it rarely has anything to do with being laid off.

Reddittfailedme · 3 months

Now which mother fucking congresscrook going to make money off the drug test. I hate these crooked bribe taking POS.

SilentNick3 · 3 months

4th amendment?

nofreedom4theUS · 3 months

WTF...why not welfare? We have to work to get the unemployment while welfare is free. Hate to say it, but I know welfare "lifers" that make more money than I do and I work 40+ hours a week.

agentmage2012 · 3 months

Congress punishes all drug users because of abuse from an indeterminable percent of users who don't actually look for another job after getting fired.

Khuddle2310 · 3 months

My question is, how the hell did they pass that so fast? When they seem to continue to ignore the rest of the publics demands of legalization. Not right.

tritonx · 2 months

Damn,

They will find it hard to give up nicotine and alcohol.

autotldr · 2 months

This is an automatically generated TL;DR, original reduced by 78%.

Republicans had initially called for drug testing for everybody seeking unemployment benefits, but Democrats balked before backtracking and agreeing to allow testing for those who lost their jobs because of drug use and those applying for jobs in industries where drug testing is prevalent.

Drug testing is also more likely to be imposed on lower skilled workers than on white collar workers because those sectors are where drug testing is most prevalent now.

Democratic lawmakers downplayed the extent of drug testing about to be foisted on laid-off workers, while Republicans said they would be widespread. The bill requires the Labor Department to draft regulations to determine who will be subjected to drug testing.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Theory | Feedback | Top three keywords: drug^#1 test^#2 work^#3

Kalfira · 3 months

First off let me say that I am 100% FOR the legalization movement. I think that the legalization of Marijuana will do the United States and the world at large a ton of good and rid us of many of the ills we have today.

That being said, I am in favor of this change, think it should be applied to other benefits, such as welfare and food stamps.

Why? Because if you are in a position where you are needing help from the government to support your life / family then you are also in the position where you don't need to be speending your extra money on marijuana. I love marijuana, it makes me happier and feel better about everything, but one thing it does not do is motivate me to get a job / earn more money. It motivates me to sit on the couch with my friends and watch cartoons. And there is nothing wrong with that. But I don't want to pay for someone else to do that.

I haven't been unemployed for more than a couple months since I was 16 years old and I pay my taxes like a good citizen. I'm a nice guy and given the opportunity I would probably smoke those people who are unemployed out, just because that's what I do. But it's entirely different to pay for people, who aren't benefiting me or society in any way to get high on my dime.

TL;DR I think this is a good idea because I don't want to pay for someones "drug money" when that's not condusive to the goal that those systems were put in place for, IE Tiding you over to a new job or subsidizing low income families so that they can survive.

CountNoAccount · 3 months

[deleted]

MrDectol · 3 months

Perhaps nobody should be buying any extras when on govt assistance.

langbang · 3 months

I support this 100%. Stop being babies.

you'll need to login or register to do that

create a new account

login