Title:
Oklahoma legislators want poor people to pee in a cup
Message:
Oklahoma’s legislature is seeking new and emerging ways to make poverty even more humiliating by forcing welfare recipients to submit to drug testing. Sponsored by Rep. Guy Liebman (R-Oklahoma City), HB 2388 recently passed the Oklahoma House and is now headed to the Senate. The bill would require poor people to submit a urine sample as a precondition for receiving benefits. The bill would not require testing of government contractors, executives of corporations who receive multimillion-dollar tax abatements, or other recipients of taxpayer dollars who aren’t poor.
Please ask your senator to oppose this wasteful, discriminatory legislation.
I could tell you about how similar programs have been ruled unconstitutional in other states, don’t actually save money, and unfairly stigmatize the poor, but I’ll let the Daily Show do it better (and funnier) than I could:
Like Florida’s legislative sponsor, Rep. Liebman lost his interest in saving taxpayer dollars when it was suggested that he and other legislators also be subjected to drug testing. He opposed an amendment that requires candidates for public office to show that they have passed a drug test within 15 days of filing as a candidate. That amendment passed despite his objections.
Please take just a minute to tell your senator that you don’t approve of wasting money by picking on the poor.
