Sen. Eddie Joe Williams today filed a bill to require anyone receiving unemployment benefits to either have a high school diploma or be enrolled in classes working towards a GED.

When it comes to making the poor, or those down on their luck, jump through hoops in order to receive social safety-net benefits, there is no restriction too cruel, no paternalistic meddling too ugly, no bureaucratic burden too baroque.

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In related news, the legislature appears set to enact a tax hike on unemployment benefits in order to pay for a $6 million giveaway to corporate interests in the soda industry.

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