There were harsh words in the heated debate on a House bill that requires the Department of Human Services to see how much it costs to print pictures on LINK cards. HB 161’s sponsor Rep. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) was accused by fellow legislators of picking on poor people, physically intimidating Democrats in a “bullish” manner, and creating the “most wasteful spending of our time in state government.”

Progress Illinois covered the original version of the bill, which called for the implementation of printing pictures on the state’s electronic food stamps system through the ATM-like LINK cards. The version of the bill that passed on Tuesday, however, includes an amendment that only commissions the study of the costs to implement instead. According to a Sun-Times report, there would be a separate vote to move forward with the photo plan after the cost study. What likely led to the loaded amendment was the $4 million price tag to implement the system, a number that the Department of Human Services initially estimated.

Those against the bill say having a photo of the cardholder (typically the head of the household receiving assistance) would restrict others in the household for which the money is for from accessing the funds. While the Shriver Center said food stamp fraud has actually gone down from 4 percent to 1 percent (as of last month), a defensive Rose appeared to have cited erroneous numbers and coolly said “All [the bill] does is gather facts. Why would anyone be against facts?” Perhaps the best answer to that question came in an editorial in the State Journal-Register, which calls the entire idea “a solution in search of a problem.”