(Republicans) Won't Renew Free School Meal Program Which Could Hurt Millions of Children.

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(Republicans) Won't Renew Free School Meal Program Which Could Hurt Millions of Children.

Published June 3, 2022

Quote:

A pandemic program allowing waivers for schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to up to 10 million additional students is set to expire on June 30. Currently, Congress has not provided a solution to extend the program to the dismay of many advocated, Salon reports.

The waivers gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) authority to lift regulatory obstacles to universal school meals, such as income-based eligibility requirements. With that new flexibility, millions of families were able to discard paperwork and red tape for kids to get fed. The National School Lunch program feeds 22.6 million school children daily.

However, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and other Republicans killed a temporary program extension in March – saying they did not see “pandemic-era flexibilities as necessary anymore.”

Some states around the country are taking measures into their own hands to extend the lunch program themselves. These efforts come with a high cost, given higher food prices, supply chain breaks, and staffing issues.

It would only cost Congress $11 billion to reauthorize the program. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich) introduced the (Support Kids Not Red Tape Act) to extend the waivers, but only has support from all Senate Democrats and two lone Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.

Some representatives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) want a permanent solution. Last year, they introduced a bill to enact a permanent, universal, and nationwide free school meals program, guaranteeing free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack to all school children, regardless of their family income. That proposal has not received a vote in the House or Senate.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/republicans-wont-renew-free-school-154300136.html

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Type: Discussion • Score: 9 • Views: 2,539 • Replies: 8

@Real Music,

I have a scary story to share, I need to get permission from the teacher....be back after that

1 Reply

@glitterbag,

I'll be waiting.

0 Replies

Cruelty is the point.

1 Reply

Our kids are still home schooled but when they were in school they never ate cafeteria food. I think they tried it once and no one liked it. I know there are thousands of kids that would normally go hungry if it wasn’t for free breakfast and lunch.

Lets subsidize big Oil Companies and let children go hungry!

This is disturbing.

0 Replies

@Real Music,

Real Music wrote:

(Republicans) Won't Renew Free School Meal Program Which Could Hurt Millions of Children.

Published June 3, 2022

Quote:
A pandemic program allowing waivers for schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to up to 10 million additional students is set to expire on June 30. Currently, Congress has not provided a solution to extend the program to the dismay of many advocated, Salon reports.

The waivers gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) authority to lift regulatory obstacles to universal school meals, such as income-based eligibility requirements. With that new flexibility, millions of families were able to discard paperwork and red tape for kids to get fed. The National School Lunch program feeds 22.6 million school children daily.

However, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and other Republicans killed a temporary program extension in March – saying they did not see “pandemic-era flexibilities as necessary anymore.”

Some states around the country are taking measures into their own hands to extend the lunch program themselves. These efforts come with a high cost, given higher food prices, supply chain breaks, and staffing issues.

It would only cost Congress $11 billion to reauthorize the program. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich) introduced the (Support Kids Not Red Tape Act) to extend the waivers, but only has support from all Senate Democrats and two lone Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.

Some representatives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) want a permanent solution. Last year, they introduced a bill to enact a permanent, universal, and nationwide free school meals program, guaranteeing free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack to all school children, regardless of their family income. That proposal has not received a vote in the House or Senate.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/republicans-wont-renew-free-school-154300136.html

No surprise at all. Pretty much follows the Republican's ideas on the issue.

WE WILL INSIST THAT THEY GET BORN. AT THAT POINT, THEY BECOME SOMEONE ELSE'S PROBLEM. NO WAY WE WILL HELP UNLESS FORCED TO DO SO.

0 Replies

@jespah,

jespah wrote:

Cruelty is the point.

Do you remember when Republicans ran on the disingenuous quasiphilosophy of Compassionate conservatism? How quickly was that thrown away and forgotten by the Republican Party?

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@Real Music,

United States needs to get it's money back from Ukraine.

So what to be honest.

USA literally just donated

$55,000,000,000
v.
$30,000,000,000

Okay so USA needs to get it's money back from Ukraine. So you want to blame somebody then blame Ukraine and the military that caused this to occur. Start a "feed the children" type foundation for students, state by state.

Honest to gosh I had free Breakfast and lunch and tons of it went to waste, and at home I had tons of food growing up. They should just make a law that parents have to be responsible for breakfast and lunch and fire the food-workers from the school. Trust me, the food people in the school are very expendable. All the school needs is at least one head chef / line-cook with a food license and that is it, not an army of second rate maintenance workers. Yeah lets give the janitor extra pay to work in the kitchen.

1 Reply

@PoliteMight,

Question: when you type your posts, does your brain know what your typing or is it in a neutral gear in a Free association sort of way? Most times I can’t make a bit of sense out of what you post.

I know I’ll regret asking, but why must US get its money back from Ukraine? This much needed financial aid and weaponry to defend against Russian military which grossly outmans them. Why not assist them before they get swallowed up whole?

The topic was about free lunches in US schools. What connection has that to Ukraine? Please don’t go with USA is sending aid to Ukraine for free lunches to Ukrainian kids.

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(Republicans) Won't Renew Free School Meal Program Which Could Hurt Millions of Children.

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