President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to head the Department of Agriculture has been a staunch opponent of drug testing for government food program recipients.
Tom Vilsack, …
President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to head the Department of Agriculture has been a staunch opponent of drug testing for government food program recipients. Tom Vilsack, who served as secretary of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the entirety of former President Barack Obama’s presidency, strongly opposed a requirement that would’ve forced Americans to take a drug test in order to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). President-elect Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he would nominate Vilsack to lead USDA again. “I for one am tired of the conversation in this country that seems to divide those that struggle from those who have succeeded,” Vilsack said at the 2016 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference, according to Agri-Pulse Communications. “We are a healthier, stronger, better nation, a more compassionate nation, because we have programs like SNAP.” Vilsack specifically addressed Republicans’ arguments to implement drug testing: “The stated reason is that ‘we’re compassionate, we want to help.’ Really? That’s the reason? Because if that were the reason, Congress would be appropriating right now additional resources to deal with the tremendous gap in services for mental health and substance abuse.” “Folks, we have to…call these people on this notion. We have to say, ‘Don’t tell us this is how to show compassion,’” he continued, according to Agri-Pulse. In 2015, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin state legislature passed legislation, which former Republican Gov.
