Action 37: KEEP FEEDING OUR KIDS!
Background:
Maine has the highest rate of childhood hunger in New England. One in five Maine children experiences food insecurity, according to Feeding America. But the Republicans apparently don’t care, they would rather fund tax cuts for the rich.
The House Ways and Means Committee has proposed $3 billion in federal cuts to school breakfast and lunch reimbursement in the upcoming Reconciliation Bill. This would be done by changing the formula for providing aid from 25% of the student body living in poverty, to 60%. In other words, more than half the kids in your town have to live in POVERTY before your school qualifies for federal food assistance. The poverty rate is determined by calculating how many families are receiving SNAP or TANF. (And it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to project that the budget predators will re-define eligibility for those programs as well, further deepening the cuts.)
Last year, Maine received approximately $53 million in federal funding for school meal reimbursements. If the budget cuts are adopted, it would negatively impact nearly 22,000 students and at least 75 schools in Maine. School Meals for All in our state guarantees children will still be fed during school hours, so either the federal reimbursement will be made up with an increase in your state and local taxes, or the kids will go hungry with all the attendant social consequences. More sleight of hand by the Trump/Musk/Vought predators: cut the federal budget while throwing the burden back to the states and towns. Nationally, 12 million children in 24,000 school districts will be affected.
Jared Golden has been a longtime supporter of food assistance for low-income communities, “but his spokesperson said it is too soon for him to comment on the proposed cuts.” HUH? WHY?
Action: Call/write or representatives to speak out against the roll backs to the Community Eligibility Provision from 25% to 60% and to keep burdensome and time-consuming paper work out of school nutrition directors’ responsibilities so that the focus can be on feeding students.
Contacts:
Representative Golden (202) 225-6306 https://golden.house.gov/contact
Representative Pingree (202) 225-6116 https://pingree.house.gov/contact/contactform.htm
Senator Collins (202) 224-2523 https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact/email-senator-collins
Senator King (202) 224-5344 https://www.king.senate.gov/contact
Urgency: Make your calls this month and ask for periodic updates from Golden.
Extra Credit:
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/02/07/advocates-say-cutting-funding-for-school-meals-would-be-dire-for-maine/
https://www.fullplates.org/school-meals-for-all#:~:text=School%20Meals%20for%20All%3A%20A,school%20meals%20for%20all%20students
https://www.feedingamerica.org
See Action # 16. This is an example of the danger of an omnibus funding bill – policy gets made without adequate debate.
https://nlihc.org/resource/senate-budget-committee-begins-moving-forward-reconciliation-package-amidst-ongoing