Usually, I don't want to just fill this space with outrage. But here's an exception.
Did you know that Republican governors in fifteen states have rejected federal money to help feed kids out of school in the summer? They are denying food aid to some 8 million children already qualified for food under the regular season school lunch program.
Some people have been watching too much Fox News. Why might governors chose this path:
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said she saw no need to add money to a program that helps food-insecure youths “when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) said bluntly, “I don’t believe in welfare.”
... Pillen, the Nebraska governor, said in a statement that the program is “unnecessary and is not adequate to meeting the needs of children. … Handing out money is not enough to meet kid’s needs. They need much more.”
The states denying help to poor kids include Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming.
I looked up why usually generous Vermont might have joined this backward bunch. According to Vermont Public Radio, state officials explained:
... Vermont lacks the IT system needed to streamline the collection of eligibility information from participating households
The problem here is state poverty, not cruel misgivings about feeding poor kids.
• • •
The good news of the day is that More then 20 Million People Have Signed Up for Obamacare Plans, Blowing by Record.
Little by little, over the bodies of obstructive Republicans, we're making this rich country a better country.
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