Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) has doubled down on his controversial remarks about suicide, claiming that government assistance leads people to kill themselves.
"This suicide problem didn't exist until we got largesse from the government," Young said Wednesday at a senior center, according to Alaska Dispatch News. "When people had to work and had to provide and had to keep warm by putting participation in cutting wood and catching the fish and killing the animals, we didn't have the suicide problem."
The government has exacerbated the problem by "saying you are not worth anything but you are going to get something for nothing," he added.
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While speaking at a high school earlier in the week, Young blamed a "lack of support" for suicide, stunning students and administrators still grieving the recent suicide of a classmate. Young's office later apologized, saying the lawmaker "should have taken a more sensitive approach."
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