Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Wednesday that he would be willing to pay for drug tests for the Florida lawmakers who voted to drug test welfare recipients.
“Interestingly, the governor’s pee-in-the-cup mandate doesn’t apply to the one bunch that whizzes away more tax dollars than anyone else — the legislators who pass such useless laws,” Hiassenwrote in a recent column. “I say line up all 160 of ‘em for a patriotic whiz-fest at the Capitol clinic. You think more than 2.5 percent might test positive? Let’s find out. And I’ll pay for it out of my own pocket. Seriously.”
Welfare repents were “an easy target,” he explained during an interview with Maddow Wednesday. “This is class warfare. This is picking on the folks who happen to be unemployed, especially the ones with children. And they are testing at such a lower rate than the general population. The most recent federal drug survey shows national drug use at about 8.9 percent — almost nine percent. These people are living like monks compared to them.”
“If you get a majority — close to a majority [of lawmakers] saying yes, I would please like to be there along with a camera crew if you don’t mind,” Maddow said.
“Yeah, but the deal is all or nothing,” Hiaasen remarked. “That’s what they do to the applicants for the welfare fund. It’s all or nothing. Everybody’s got to do it. So, all 160 of these folks have to stand there with their little cup and do the deed. And if the lab sends me a bill, I’ll send a check.”
Watch this video from MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast Sept. 28, 2011.
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