The House GOP continues its war on the poor by underfunding agriculture and food safety programs, but this part of their budget proposal is really, um, special —
And in a surprising twist, the bill language specifies that only rural areas are to benefit in the future from funding requested by the administration this year to continue a modest summer demonstration program to help children from low-income households — both urban and rural — during those months when school meals are not available.
Since 2010, the program has operated from an initial appropriation of $85 million, and the goal has been to test alternative approaches to distribute aid when schools are not in session. The White House asked for an additional $30 million to continue the effort, but the House bill provides $27 million for what’s described as an entirely new pilot program focused on rural areas only.
Democrats were surprised to see urban children were excluded. And the GOP had some trouble explaining the history itself. But a spokeswoman confirmed that the intent of the bill is a pilot project in “rural areas†only.
Gee, I wonder why they’d have issues about aid to urban but not rural children (she said, not really wondering). See also Josh Marshall.
ZOINKS!!!
No subtlety whatsoever!
And what about the kids in rural black areas?
There’s no shortage of those small towns, down South.
Will that money be directed towards urban or suburban white kids in Republican-led districts?
Look, I understand some of the difficulties in feeding kids in rural areas, and I sympathize. Parent’s don’t want to waste a couple of gallons of gas to take their kid(s), only to find out that there’s no lunch that day.
But, shouldn’t we care about ALL of our children – black, brown, yellow, red, and white, of all faiths, whether they live in rural, suburban, or urban areas?
“Sunny” Ronald Reagan left behind many, many dark clouds of bigotry in his wake.
Let them eat the rich!
Stella,
But let them eat them well-done, stewed, or steamed.
Those rich vermin are bound to be full of other vermin.
The breakdown between urban and rural population in the 2010 census is 80.7% urban and 19.3% rural. Of course, the House Republicans probably use different criteria to define what’s urban. Not race, of course, but things like listening to that awful rap music and refusing to pull up your pants.
Wonder how much they will squeal when Obama goes ahead and uses the money for the original program anyway…
Least, if he is smart. And advertize it heavily!
…better yet, he should use a “signing statement” indicating just what he will do with the money!
My guess is that the Democrats will blow this. What should happen is that when the AG bill hits the House, it will be passed. When it gets to the Senate, they should pass it with minimal fuss. When it hits Obama’s desk, he should do what he hasn’t in 6 years – be ANGRY! The GOP has left themselves wide open to some good old fashioned grandstanding. The are caught with their pants down in a blatant move to feed poor GOP kids, but leave the kids of poor democrats hungry.
If this plays as ugly as I think it would (to moderates), making a fuss at the Congressional level might get a reversal if the whole thing polls badly. Almost nobody will notice. We need to let this thing go from committee to the House floor (passed) and the Senate (passed) so the president can call the press for a blistering veto and a denunciation of playing partisan politics with poor hungry children. The GOP thinks that since this is a fractional part of an essential bill, they can get away with it. What they are doing has nothing to do with food for kids – it has everything to do with insulting democrats. Yes, by vetoing the bill, essential programs are put at risk until the House comes up with a non-partisan proposal.
Here’s the thing – it’s an off-cycle election year where democrats stand to get trounced if a) independents follow conservative voting trends and/or b) democrats stay away in droves, which is typical. Calling the GOP out for playing politics with hungry kids is going to resonate with voters a LOT more than Benghzi!
One can predict and expect that democrats will let this opportunity pass. *sigh*
Imagine if a dem congress had done something like this impacting kids of the base of the GOP? They would raise holy hell about it and EVERYONE would know. It shouldn’t have to get to Obama’s desk to veto it.
This reminds me of something someone said:
The GOP fear their base; the dems hate theirs.