(RALEIGH) -- House Speaker Thom Tillis is drawing criticism for his suggestion that state employees and individuals receiving government assistance should be subject to random drug tests. The comments were made at a Republican gathering in Madison County on Friday October 7 and eventually made it onto YouTube.

At the event Tillis referenced legislation approved in Florida, where welfare recipients must pass tests showing they are drug-free before getting assistance. Florida Gov. Rick Scott also issued an executive order requiring state employees to take drug tests. Both policies are being challenged in court.

“I don’t know if we’ll go as far as Florida, but if you’re receiving government assistance, and every once in a while we want to do random drug tests, done on a fair basis, I think we should do it,” said Tillis.

Tillis argued in the comments published on YouTube that state funding for health programs wasn’t necessarily going to the people that needed it the most.

"When you go in and you see a woman in a wheelchair – she’s from here, she’s from Asheville – who’s on the brink of losing her benefits, and you know that Health and Human Services is sending checks to a woman who has chosen to have three or four kids out of wedlock,” Tillis explained. "What we have to do is find a way to divide and conquer the people who are on assistance."

"We have to show respect for that woman, who has cerebral palsy and had no choice in her condition that needs help, and we should help. And we need to get those folks to look down at these people who choose to get into a condition that makes them dependent on the government, and say, at some point, you’re on your own. We may end up taking care of those babies, but we’re not going to take care of you."

Tillis also said he agreed with a person who supported drug-testing for state employees.

On Wednesday, Tillis defended and clarified these comments. He said North Carolina simply needs to find some way to make sure that public assistance money is going to people with a legitimate need. "We need to somehow stop the in-flow into the system of those kinds of people who may be able to make personal choices that will make it less likely that they need government assistance so that we can give it to those who have no other choice."

He also said he did not support “broad-based, 100 percent” drug-testing for all state employees. However, Tillis said certain jobs should be subject to drug-screening in situations where it could improve safety and job performance.

After Tillis' initial comments appeared on YouTube, North Carolina Democratic Party chairman David Parker was quick to criticize the House Speaker.

“As usual, Speaker Thom Tillis is focused on dividing North Carolinians instead of bringing them together. By trying to humiliate our most underprivileged and poverty-stricken citizens it's clear that Thom Tillis is nothing more than a school-yard bully—he should be ashamed of himself,” Parker said in a prepared statement. “Representative Tillis will say or do almost anything to distract from his miserable economic record as Speaker of the House. He needs to spend less time thinking about how to divide and conquer North Carolinians and more time following Governor Perdue’s lead on working to recruit new jobs and industry to our state.”

Speaker Tillis continues a Town Hall tour of the state.  He is expected in  Troy and Albemarle on Wednesday.