Drug enduced hazes on the American Dime...

There has been discussion lately in the news about social welfare programs having drug screening done prior to government assistance. Florida most recently has been a focal point, for making people pay for the screening up front then getting reimbursed after passing it. Other states have made drug screenings necessary for unemplyment checks as well. Some say this is unconstitutional and unfair to put someone through however, I disagree. This is excellent news for a few reasons. First off I don't think it's fair for hard working citizens to cover the bills for someone if they have enough money to self prescribe on a regular basis. I also don't think it's fair to pay a percentage of someone's employment if all they are going to do is the bare minimum of the requirements in order to recieve said pay check. Secondly, this leaves room for those that, are in need of assistance to recieve it (hopefully a quicker response). Since July in Florida, 7,030 passed, 93 failed and 1,597 didn't turn in the required drug screen. Let's look at the math for that shall we? If each person were to recieve the average pay for one month based off Florida's law which is about $250, and we multiply that by the total of those who failed to turn in the drug screening and those who flat failed it then for that one month in Florida they saved  roughly $420,000 in tax payer dollars. WOW. 

I don't see anything wrong with creating a drug screen requirement to be eligable for government assistance. Doing so can increase positive results financially and quite honestly could help someone realize they need to make better choices for their life and their loved ones. Am I saying everyone with government assistance is addicted crack? Of course not! As shown with the statistics from Florida, for the most part it's not even an issue and I think it's wonderful that those who are in need of help can recieve it! However, there are a few who seem to slip between the lines and are recieving help without realizing it is suppose to be temporary help. People aren't suppose to live off food stamps their entire life. They aren't suppose to collect unemplyment checks for years either. If I have to pee in a cup in order to have a job, a job which taxes are taken out of my paycheck every week then why shouldn't someone have to do the same order to recieve a paycheck from the taxes taken out of citizen's hard earned money?

Food Stamp Rationing...without loopholes!

In Robert VerBrugger's End Food Stamp Feast commentary on National Review Online he replies to the federal government's desire to save money. VerBrugger believes one way of doing so is with a food stamp reform. Since funding comes from federal taxes, being able to control how food stamps are handled at state level would help cut down quite a bit as each state has different qualifications or loopholes in the system. It appears that while food stamps are needed for some, others are recieving the help without actual need for it. One instance occured with a man who won the lottery and distributed his money into investments which made it appear as though he had a low income, thus recieving food stamps. Another loophole used is to recieve help for utilities with as low as 1 buck written to their name which makes them eligible for food stamps as well. VerBrugger backs this up with statistics strewn throughout the article as well. So in controlling the eligibilty across the board (the entire country) we can save quite a bit of tax paying dollars that can be put to good use elsewhere.

I couldn't agree more with what Verbrugger is saying. I'll be honest just the other day I was in line behind a couple who were using the food stamp card. Once done with the transaction they continued with a seperate transaction, to pay for the clothing piled  up he opened up his wallet and pulled out a wad of 100 dollar bills. Clearly he wasn't hurting that bad if he was able to carry cash around like that. Now maybe I'm wrong for assuming he always has that kind of cash available but I can't help that the thought crossed my mind. Our taxes put in the food stamp benefit bracket should be used on those that really need the help, not those that found loopholes in our system. As I have said before I am all for helping someone in need but I do not want someone to use my tax paying dollars as a piggyback ride throughout life. It's important that we also realize that the money taken out of our checks is going to benefit more than one group as well...all in all let's help those who need help and make sure those that can be self efficient stay self efficient.