Boston lawmakers are pushing for stringent welfare reform after a drug-dealing felon was caught trying to use his taxpayer-funded EBT card to pay his bail.

The Boston Herald reports on the controversy:

A convicted drug dealer — who cops said wanted to use cash from his taxpayer-funded EBT card to post bail — is the new face of welfare abuse, according to tough-minded lawmakers who are pushing the reform-resistant Patrick administration for a crackdown.

Kimball Clark, 45, was locked up Friday on drug-dealing charges — again — when he was overheard using his one phone call to ask the person on the other end of the line to "get my EBT card and go to the ATM and get the money to bail me out, get me outa here tonight," according to a Boston police report.

"It’s another outrage," said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton), a member of the EBT Task Force who criticized the group for failing to push tough restrictions on the use of the controversial cards. "When we were on the EBT Card Commission, I fought to get bail bondsmen on that list of places where people could not use their EBT cards. They fought me on it and told me people can’t use their EBT cards in that way."