Welfare Reforms Scuttled In Illinois House

By Benjamin Yount, Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD – It’s been a week of “no” in Springfield.

Lawmakers, faced with a deadline to move legislation toward an up or down vote, have been scuttling proposals with each day of session.

Wednesday saw a number of proposed welfare reforms go by the wayside. One of those plans, from State Rep. Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica, would have required drug tests for adults receiving public aid.

Sacia said the idea is simple: Stop abuses of the system as soon as you can.

“This is taxpayer money going to a portion of recipients who don’t deserve it,” Sacia said. “We ask people who are applying for jobs to take drug tests. Why should we ask differently from people who are taking this money?”

State Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Westmont, said she supported the bill because of the rising costs of footing the bill for public aid recipients.

“It doesn’t automatically knock someone out. It would voluntarily give them drug treatment. If they don’t want the treatment, then I feel they should be off (welfare),” she said.

As with Sacia’s proposal, Bellock’s own plan to limit public aid was left behind by an Illinois House committee.

State Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, opposed the proposal. She said drug tests don’t fix the root cause of abuse.

“It’s already illegal to be on drugs while on welfare. [This proposal] is not solving the problem,” she said. “We need to focus more on rehabilitation

Flowers said the jobless poor should not be the victims of assumptions.

“I was outraged about Rep. Sacia’s bill that everyone that’s on welfare has done or will do drugs,” she said. “Everyone that’s on welfare isn’t there because they want to be on welfare.”

Sacia said he would likely have to wait until next year to try another proposal.