A GOP congressman is peddling a stigmatizing message to justify a new bill on adding work requirements for certain federal benefits, implying that it’s necessary to prevent people from buying marijuana with taxpayer dollars and lazing around on the couch while eating Cheetos.
During a February 26 appearance on Fox Business, Representative Pat Fallon (R-TX) was asked about recently filed Republican legislation that would impose restrictions on access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits—specifically mandating that non-disabled people under 65 work at least 20 hours per week in order to receive the assistance.
Fallon decided to justify the legislation by playing into cannabis stereotypes.
That’s already part of federal law, but lead bill sponsor Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) claims his America Works Act would close “loopholes” that have been exploited in certain states.
Fallon, for his part, decided to justify the legislation by playing into cannabis stereotypes and arguing that federal dollars are going toward medical cannabis purchases by benefit recipients.
“You know what? We have a message for those kind of folks,” he said. “If you’re able-bodied and you want to milk the taxpayer, those days are over. Get off the couch, stop eating the Cheetos, stop buying the medical marijuana and watching television.”
“You’re going to actually contribute now, because the American taxpayer is fed up,” he said, adding that “we can’t fund the federal government anymore with these kind of deficits when we’re spending more on our interest payments almost a trillion dollars than we are on our military. That should be a wake up call that, if we don’t change course, we’re going to lose this great Republic of ours.”
The cannabis narrative is nothing new among certain GOP congressional lawmakers.
There’s no specific mention of cannabis in the bill itself—nor is there evidence of rampant abuse of the SNAP program to buy marijuana, which is already prohibited under federal law.
But the cannabis narrative is nothing new among certain GOP congressional lawmakers.
In 2021, for example, Republican members introduced a bill aimed at preventing people from using federal financial assistance at marijuana dispensaries, titling it the “Welfare for Needs not Weed Act.”
Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), the lead Republican sponsor of a marijuana banking reform bill, also included language in a separate benefits-related bill in 2021 that would make it so people could not use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds at “any establishment that offers marihuana…for sale.”
In 2018, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a prior version of the legislation as part of a broader jobs bill, but it was not enacted into law.
Photograph by Dank Depot via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0
This story was originally published by Marijuana Moment, which tracks the politics and policy of cannabis and drugs. Follow Marijuana Moment on X and Facebook, and sign up for its newsletter.
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