Oops! South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) on Monday said she can’t back up a claim she made about job seekers’ drug use in her state.
Earlier, Haley claimed that about half of the applicants at a nuclear site in South Carolina failed a drug test — evidence she used to justify the need to drug screen applicants for unemployment benefits. But it turns out that less than 1 percent of applicants failed the drug test, the Associated Press reports.
“I’ve never felt like I had to back up what people tell me,” Haley told the Associated Press. “You assume that you’re given good information. And now I’m learning through you guys that I have to be careful before I say something.”
“I’m not going to say it anymore,” she added.
Haley said she was at the Savannah River Site nuclear reservation and heard the drug testing claim from people there, a comment that “had a huge impact” on her.
“It is the reason you’re hearing me look into whether we can do drug testing,” she said. “It’s the reason you hear me focus so much on job training. Somebody can’t say that and it not stick you in the gut.”
Despite the evidence against it, Haley is still seeking drug tests tied to applicants for unemployment benefits, according to the report.
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David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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