This week, Minnesota democrats and republicans agreed a rare compromise on the highly partisan issue of drug testing for welfare recipients—to apply the tests to themselves, too. Welfare drug testing bills have been the subject of heated debate in several state legislatures this year. And last year, the Daily Show highlighted the hypocrisy of the tactic by requesting Florida governor Rick Scott pee in a cup in order to receive taxpayer money. During a meeting of the Minnesota House yesterday, after a Republican senator proposed drug screening for potential welfare recipients, a Democrat countered by proposing that members of the House must successfully complete a drug test in order to receive salary and benefits. Instead of backing down, GOP members accepted the challenge, and a House majority voted 70-64 in favor. “Bring on the cup,” declared Rep. Duane Quam (R). “I have nothing to fear.” Lawmakers in North Carolina, however, seem not to share Quam’s confidence—they rejected a similar proposal by Democratic state Sen. Gladys Robinson. “We receive state funds, we represent the law, we institute policy,” she said yesterday. “So it should not be above [sic] any of us to submit to drug screening.”
