On the recordJune 19, 2013
I urge my colleagues to support our commonsense amendment to allow the States to conduct drug screening on applicants for welfare. If adopted, this amendment would join a list of good government reforms contained in the FARRM Bill that save taxpayer money and ensure integrity and accountability within our nutrition system. From preventing lottery winners from receiving food stamps to closing loopholes and preventing illegal immigrants from receiving benefits, I commend the chairman and ranking member on the work done to reform the food stamps program in the FARRM Bill. Mr. Chairman, our amendment simply allows the States to conduct drug testing to ensure addicts and criminals are not taking food out of the mouths of hungry children. This debate is not about hungry children. We all agree that we need to take care of the least among us, those who need this type of assistance. We all agree that we don't want children to go hungry. What this amendment is about is making sure that addicts and criminals are not taking what is not theirs, taking food from the mouths of these children, taking food from those who are in need. So I ask my colleagues to just consider this as a simple measure, a commonsense measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
