Congress Sends Trump Measure Expanding Drug Tests For Unemployed

A laboratory technician prepares samples of urine for doping tests during a media open day, ahead of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, at the King's College London Drug Control Centre, London, Friday Feb. 5, 2010. The d... A laboratory technician prepares samples of urine for doping tests during a media open day, ahead of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, at the King's College London Drug Control Centre, London, Friday Feb. 5, 2010. The drug control centre is the UK's only World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory to carry out doping tests on sports competitors. (AP Photo/Sang Tan) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday sent President Donald Trump a measure to expand the number of applicants for jobless benefits who can be drug-tested.

The White House has said Trump will sign the measure into law as a cancellation of “unnecessary regulations.”

Lawmakers in the GOP-controlled Congress have complained that under President Barack Obama, the government placed too many limits on states for deciding which unemployment applicants can be drug-tested. The Labor Department’s regulation meant that states could only test applicants for unemployment benefits who do jobs that require drug testing. The resolution passed by the House and approved by the Senate 51-48 on Tuesday would cancel those limits.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the government had overreached.

“Congress specifically intended to provide states the ability to determine” which applicants for unemployment insurance should be drug-tested, he said. “The Obama Department of Labor substantially narrowed the law to circumstances where testing is legally required, not merely allowed.”

But Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said the new rule meant too many people could be drug-tested, and “if you’re looking for work, you’re guilty of drug use until being proven innocent.”

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Latest News
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: