Drug Tests to Get Welfare
WHITFIELD: All right. Checking today's top stories. The besieged Syrian Town of Homs is enduring a seventh straight day of bombardment. Opposition activists say hundreds of people have been killed there in the past week. The death toll from violence across the area today has climbed to at least 30. On Monday, the U.N. General Assembly will consider a resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown. And after hearing from all of the Republican candidates over the past few days, next hour, conservative activists at CPAC will announce who they want to run for president. We'll bring that to you live, 4:15 Eastern Time. And the U.S. Navy bestows a major honor on former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords naming a warship after her. The USS Gabrielle Giffords will be close to shore combat ship. The Navy almost never names ships after people who are still alive and even more rarely after women. The Navy Secretary says the name Gabrielle Giffords is synonymous with courage. In Pennsylvania, there's a new pilot program underway to make sure convicted drug felons get welfare - who are getting welfare are not using drugs. Supporters of the program say it's one way to make sure public assistance isn't being wasted. CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti joins us now to talk more about this program. Susan, so not everyone, however, is thrilled about this idea?</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. Not everyone. Some feel that it's just an attempt to blame drug addicts for their disease. Now, supporters of this program say that by testing those with prior felonies, they're making sure taxpayer money goes to those who are most deserving. So, starting with just one county, Schuylkill - that's east of Harrisburg - those drug felons will face random drug tests. If they fail, they get another crack at treatment, but a third strike means no more welfare checks forever. Now, one state senator says it's exactly what his constituents want.</s>STATE SENATOR DAVID ARGALL (R), PENNSYLVANIA: The last thing they want to do with their tax dollars is to pay for welfare benefits for people to buy their own illegal drugs. I mean, to them that's - that's just crazy.</s>CANDIOTTI: Now, a law in Florida that called for drug test for anyone on welfare was stopped by the courts, ruling it amounted to an illegal search. But Pennsylvania thinks its law will be harder if not impossible to challenge because it targets only drug felons, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: So what do advocates for the poor and community outreach programs think about all of this?</s>CANDIOTTI: Well Fred, some are not impressed. They argue that these random tests for drug felons who want to get welfare stigmatize the poor and could strip them of a lifeline. If they fall off the wagon, recovery can be a very long struggle.</s>ALAN JENNINGS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY ACTION COMMITTEE: There's not a lot of evidence that says large numbers of people on welfare are - are using drugs. This is - this is a mean spirited harassment of poor people.</s>CANDIOTTI: And that was Alan Jennings with the Community Action Committee. He says if Pennsylvania is going to test people convicted of drugs in exchange for public assistance, well the government ought to force anyone getting public money. He mentioned the bankers who got bailouts, or those taking a deduction on their mortgages - Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Susan Candiotti, thanks so much for that update, out of New York. All right, "The Rock's" new movie "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" is out this weekend, and a CNN iReporter sent in his review.