How Republicans Botched Their Drug-Test Legislation

On St. Patrick’s Day, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan tweeted a photo of himself and Republican Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, both in green ties, sitting down to sign a resolution headed for President Donald Trump’s desk. “This legislation allows states to have drug testing to receive federal unemployment benefits,” Ryan tweeted.

That’s not true. The bill, which Trump signed on March 31, scrapped drug testing rules the Obama administration reluctantly issued last year. But it does nothing to expand states’ freedom to require the tests. Nor does it help Congress or the Trump administration authorize states to test for drugs, administrative law experts say. In fact, it takes away some limited authority states already had, and thanks to a quirk in a 1996 law, it could sabotage the president’s attempts to allow more tests. “They shot themselves in the foot,” says Thomas McGarity, a professor of administrative law at the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s surprising that no one raised a red flag in the administration saying, ‘You may not get what you want here.’ ”