Rob Portman: “I am very sympathetic in general to the idea that has been raised by the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor), which…”

“I am very sympathetic in general to the idea that has been raised by the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor), which is to have drug testing at the Federal Government level. We already have drug testing, as I think my colleagues know, for safety-sensitive positions in the Federal Government. There are some concerns that have been raised today, including the fiscal impact. We would have not only a bureaucracy to administer this but we would have, I think necessarily, an employee assistance program. I certainly would think that that would be required. We would have to have some treatment options, which is in the legislation for the small business aspect of this. We would also have to have the costs of the test borne by the taxpayer. I know CBO has not yet done an estimate of this legislation, but I would like to see what those costs are. I think that would be appropriate for the Congress to review before we acted on it. The constitutional issues have been raised. I think there is some gray area here, but probably there would be a constitutional issue based on the case law that we have seen, looking at the issue of drug testing here in this Chamber.”