5-1-15 food stamp bill

The leader of the state Assembly’s new public benefits reform  committee says he hopes to have bills that would require food stamp users to buy healthy foods and establish drug screening for public benefit recipients ready for a floor vote by mid-May.  Rep. Mark Born, a Beaver Dam Republican, said during a news conference Thursday that he wants the bills ready by May 13.  “Its trying to focus on some health and wellness in the system,”  Born told WFDL news.  The Republican proposals would require food stamp users to spend two-thirds of their monthly benefits on nutritional foods.  They also would require applicants for state job training programs such as Wisconsin Works and certain applicants for unemployment benefits to answer questionnaires screening for drug abuse. Based on the answers, applicants could be forced to undergo tests and enter state-sponsored treatment to retain their eligibility.

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