Food stamp drug tests called illegal

Proposal would violate federal law, official says

Madison — Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to drug test some food stamp recipients violates federal law and cannot proceed without an act of Congress, a top appointee in the Obama administration says.

Wisconsin’s Republican governor has called on President-elect Donald Trump to act immediately on taking office to allow the Walker administration to start testing able-bodied recipients of Wisconsin’s Food Share program.

But in an interview, the U.S. official in charge of the replacement program to food stamps says Trump won’t be able to authorize that unless and until the president-elect signs federal legislation allowing such testing.

“The law clearly does not allow it,” said Kevin Concannon, undersecretary at the federal Food and Nutrition Service within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Walker’s “office forwarded that request to us and it was very clear, we consulted the legal counsels here and the law absolutely does not allow it.”

This month, Trump administration appointees will take charge of the Food and Nutrition Service, which runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Walker is hoping the incoming administration will approve the drug testing plan that he touted in his “state of the state” speech Tuesday afternoon.

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