WASHINGTON (WCMH) — Congress is looking at a plan to allow states to drug test people who are applying for unemployment benefits.

H.R. 5945 was introduced by Republican Kevin Brady of Texas. The “Ready to Work Act of 2016” would amend title III of the Social Security Act to “allow States to drug test applicants for unemployment compensation to ensure they are ready to work.”

“This is a common-sense measure to ensure unemployed workers are ready and available to work,” Brady said in a statement. “If you are unable or unwilling to pass a basic drug test for a job that requires one, then you suffer, your family suffers and so do the businesses looking for good workers.”

In 2012, President Obama signed the bipartisan Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act which included a provision allowing states to test unemployment applicants who had lost their job due to drug use or were seeking a job that already required employees to pass a drug test. Last month, the Department of Labor issued a final rule preventing that provision from taking place.

Brady’s bill would bypass that final rule, allowing states to drug test anyone applying for unemployment benefits.

At least 13 states already have public assistance drug testing. 10 of those states already allow drug testing on those applying for welfare benefits.

Proponents say drug testing those applying for unemployment could help address the growing drug epidemic in many states. Opponents say these types of drug tests are a waste of taxpayer dollars.

“In states that have done drug testing for other programs, they test a lot of people and find very few people, so it’s a lot of money and effort spent for very little gain,” Elizabeth Lower-Basch, director of income and worker supports for the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Brady’s bill currently has 10 Republican co-sponsors. None of them are from Ohio. The bill is expected to get a fight from Democrats.