- The Washington Times - Friday, March 6, 2015

An Alaska Republican lawmaker suggested Thursday that the best way to solve America’s homelessness problems is to let the wolves run free.

Rep. Don Young, who is well-known for his bluntness, posed the idea during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Interior Department’s budget, The Washington Post reported.

“How many of you have got wolves in your district?” Mr. Young asked. “None. None. Not one.”

They haven’t got a damn wolf in their whole district,” Mr. Young added, The Post said. “I’d like to introduce them in your district. If I introduce them in your district, you wouldn’t have a homeless problem anymore.”

Mr. Young, who has pushed for the removal of gray wolves from the endangered species list, reportedly made the comment in an attempt to demonstrate that the Interior Department routinely makes financial decision across the board without consulting the states that they affect.

A spokesman for Mr. Young told The Post that the “analogy was purposely hyperbolic to stress the point that these predators pose serious threats to wildlife management and their listing has damaging impacts to local communities.”

This isn’t the first unusual solution to a problem that Mr. Young has posed. The 22-term congressman once suggested that social drinking leads to domestic abuse and suggested drinking alone as a solution.

“If you want to drink by yourself, you may do it. But when you drink together, the possibility of harm becomes greater every day,” he told a group of Wasilla high school students in July, The Post reported.

• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.

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