Repugs in Congress want to make life even tougher for the unemployed.....

[marmar]

Congress Considers Adding GED and Drug Test Requirements to Unemployment Benefits


In the payroll tax cut extension bill, Congress is considering adding GED and drug tests requirements to unemployment benefits, a move that would strip support from those suffering most in the recession, and violate the 4th Amendment rights of the jobless.

Republicans have pushed the legislation, and some expect the Democrats in Senate to strike it down. But the content of the bill is troubling, nonetheless. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that people who were 25 years or older and did not have a high-school diploma were more than three times as likely to be unemployed as people without a college degree.

While conservatives consider the new requirement an education incentive, signing up for a GED program is also not easy. From the Huffington Post:

it is bad policy to require these workers to enroll in education programs without doing anything to increase access to adult education services. A recent survey found that nearly every state had a waiting list for adult education services and that nearly three-quarters of local programs reported waiting lists. This means that even if a worker wanted to enroll in an adult education program, there is no guarantee that he or she could. States should certainly encourage and support workers in getting the education and credentials that they need to succeed in the labor market, but this punitive policy, which denies unemployment insurance benefits at a time when there are four job openings for every person looking and long-term joblessness is setting records, is not the way to do it.

Drug testing people for public benefits has gained momentum in several states, but civil liberties advocates stress that these laws violate Constitutional protection from undue search. What's more, they are based on the stigmatized perception that the poor or unemployed use drugs more than the average population, which is simply untrue. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/777169/congress_considers_adding_ged_and_drug_test_requirements_to_unemployment_benefits/

[1ProudAtheist]

1. Why Not

just make them all pass a test on astro-physics as well?