Oh good, it’s not enough that we still have millions unemployed, but it’s time to humiliate them too
by digby
Because we’re free, that’s why:
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) said he “constantly” hears from constituents that people with jobs have to pass drug tests, so people on government assistance should have to pee in cups, too.
“For too long, our government has been avoiding the issue of accountability for the federal unemployment compensation program,” Pearce said in a press release on Wednesday. “Hard-working middle class Americans are struggling to make ends meet, and should not have to pay the way for those who have drug addictions.”
Pearce is incorrect to say that the government has avoided the issue. Last year, lawmakers compromised on a deal to reauthorize federal jobless aid and a payroll tax cut, and the legislation also gave states permission to drug test some unemployment claimants. At the time, Pearce praised that aspect of the legislation, though he voted against the bill because it increased the budget deficit.
Pearce’s spokesman didn’t immediately respond when asked if Pearce thought last year’s drug testing legislation didn’t go far enough. His new drug screening proposal, which is much broader than the one already on the books, is unlikely to become law or even get a hearing. But he said it made a constituent happy.
“As a small business owner, I know the difficulty of finding qualified, drug-free employees,” said Katy Petermeier, owner of a New Mexico business called Occupational Medicine 360, according to Pearce’s press release. “The sad truth is that many employers hold their employees accountable to be drug free, while federal welfare programs do not.”
It’s “welfare” now? Of course it is …
Here’s just one little relevant factoid from the EPI:
[We have] an economy with 7.7 percent unemployment, and unemployment projected by the Congressional Budget Office to be roughly 7 percent by the end of 2015. Current unemployment is comparable to that of the worst month of the early 1990s recession and substantially higher than that of the worst month of the early 2000s recession.
This has been going on now for over four years. It’s not because a bunch of drug addicts refuse to work. It’s because there are not enough jobs!
I’m very happy for Pearce’s constituent that her business is doing well and she isn’t one of the millions who are out of work. There but for the grace of God … I will say this — she’s evidently in the health care field and if I needed any kind of service I think I’d steer clear of her business. Empathy should be a requirement in medicine. I’m afraid I couldn’t trust someone who obviously has so little of it.
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