House on track to approve ban on accessing welfare benefits in strip clubs

Boustany’s language has already passed the House twice, and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) likely spoke for many Democrats when he said he had no real objection to the bill a third time.

“I’ll vote for it next month too if that will make for more cooperation in the House,” he said.

{mosads}Still, some Democrats said the bill demeans recipients of federal money under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and argued that in some cases, food staples are bought in stores that might also sell liquor. Boustany said that concern is unfounded because the bill gives states the option of exempting some stores from the ban if they sell food.

Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) offered his own personal story as a child as an example of how the bill could help ensure that money accessed through electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards goes to helping children and families, rather than being spent inappropriately.

“I think that if the EBT card is being used in a place that may have a drink rack inside of it and pole dancers on the other end, that is not, under any standard of morality, a place what the EBT card should be used,” he said.

“I can think of no mother that would want the money spent there, I can think of no circumstances that would justify it, and frankly, having my own stepfather come home drunk and beat up me and my mother after running around in town with what money she basically earned, I would say that in this case it’s unacceptable.”

The House was expected to vote on the bill later Wednesday. Passage will require a two-thirds majority vote.