Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, believes that citizens of his state who use public services should have to submit to drug testing. And anyone who refuses to be tested should be turned away.
Walker doesn’t want to drug test every single citizen using every single public service. Can you imagine the revolt that would cause?
Say, for instance, someone called 911 and said, “Somebody's breaking into my house! Send the police, quick!,” and the 911 operator first checked to see if the caller was on a list of Wisconsinites who have refused to be drug tested. If so, they would be told, “Sorry, no can do.”
Imagine if someone called 911 and the operator first checked to see if the caller was on a list of Wisconsinites who have refused to be drug tested. If so, they would be told, “Sorry, can't help.”
Of course, that would be absurd. And it’s not what Walker is proposing.
The only service recipients he wants to test are poor people on Medicaid. That’s something he can get away with.
Walker’s administration plans to ask the federal government later this month for permission to drug test anybody in the state who is or wants to be on Medicaid. Anyone who refuses can be denied or cut off. If Walker gets his way, this would be the first time any state has made drug testing a requirement for Medicaid eligibility. And with Trump’s people in charge, he’s likely to get the green light.
Walker’s Medicaid “reform” proposal would also limit people between the ages of nineteen and forty-nine who don’t have a disability to forty-eight months of Medicaid eligibility unless they have at least a part-time job. After forty-eight months they will be cut off for six months.
Walker has also asked the federal government for permission to drug test people who receive or apply for food stamps. It’s something he’s been trying to do since at least 2015. He has even included this requirement in his state budget bill and preemptively sued the federal government for its anticipated refusal to let him carry this out.
As far as I can tell, Walker is not bent on drug testing anyone who wants to enter a library, sit on a park bench, or enroll their children in a public school. He is not planning to make wealthy people pee into a cup before they can use public courts to execute their business deals. It would make perfect sense to do all that. Libraries, parks, schools, and courts are all funded by our tax dollars and resources are tight. It’s time to get tough!
But treating people like that would be considered insulting and degrading, unless they’re poor, disabled and seeking health care.