Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert on Thursday dinged a Tennessee lawmaker for a controversial bill that would tie welfare recipients' benefits to their children's performance in school.

Republican state Sen. Stacey Campfield introduced the legislation in late January. It would cut welfare benefits to families whose children don't do well in school.

"If you want to talk motivation, nothing motivates better than cash," Campfield told Fox News recently, in a clip played by Colbert.

"And no one knows that better than a politician," Colbert retorted.

Colbert played a clip of Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade saying that he wished the program had been in place when he was in school. Kilmeade said he used to "fake illness" in kindergarten because he couldn't recognize his name. If his parents had had money taken from them, he added, they would have found out the reason he was faking illness.

"Sadly to this day, he still does not recognize his name," Colbert quipped.

Watch the clip below, courtesy of Comedy Central:



