| I wouldn't expect any bill from Blanche Lincoln to be good. And this one isn't. Obama called for $10 billion over 10 years in new money for child nutrition. Lincoln gave it less than half that ($4.5 billion over 10 years). That's bad. It's especially bad because most of the problems with school lunch CANNOT BE SOLVED WITHOUT SPENDING MORE MONEY. It's really that simple.
Part of the problem is that Congress passed a "PAYGO" rule (Pay as you go) requiring that any time they increase spending in one area, they find a way to pay for it by either taking money away from another area or by raising taxes. And obviously nobody wants to raise taxes. When Obama called for $10 billion over 10 years for child nutrition, he did not also provide Congress with $10 billion in cuts elsewhere in the budget. So it was left to Congress to figure out how to pay for it. And Lincoln - Senator of Factory Farms and Wal-Mart - decided to cut conservation spending. I'm positive there's any number of wasteful weapons programs out there that we can cut, and I would also like to see corporations pay their taxes (as many do not). Those to funding sources alone, if tapped, could probably pay for gourmet, all-organic meals for our kids.
The bill text and more details on the bill are available here. I had these links yesterday when I posted saying I didn't have the bill text. That's because the bill does not open when I download it. The other files do open though, so check those out.
UPDATE: I forgot to add that there will be a hearing on this on Wednesday, March 24. You can watch live via webcast from the Senate Ag Committee website. |
