During a debate over Iowa’s budget this week, Iowa State Sen. Mark Chelgren (R) proposed that people who receive child support payments should be forced to submit to drug tests by the person making the payments.
The Des Moines Register reports that Sen. Chelgren was pushing the idea on behalf of an unidentified constituent who claimed his ex-wife was using child support money for illegal drugs.
Under Sen. Chelgren’s proposal, a person paying child support could require the recipient to take a drug test every six months.
Sen. Chelgren said: “We shouldn’t be ducking our head and running away every time there’s a difficult issue coming up."
However, following laughter in the Iowa Senate chamber, Sen. Chelgren withdrew his amendment.
Another Sen. Chelgren amendment, to be debated, would force people money collecting from state welfare programs to undergo drug tests.