Politico proves once again that they're incapable of pointing the finger at Republicans when their cruel policies literally take food out of the mouths of children. Americans have watched COVID relief benefits expire as millions of kids have already fallen into poverty, and Politico puts out this gem about "Congress" failing to extend universal school meals.
Finger-pointing ensues after Congress fails to extend universal school meals
Democrats and a long list of school groups are blaming the Senate minority leader for taking a hardline stance against extending the waivers.
Universal free meals at schools are slated to end this summer, after a provision to extend temporary pandemic programs was not included in a major spending bill introduced on Capitol Hill.
The first Covid-19 aid package, which was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump, gave USDA the authority to waive a slew of regulations, allowing schools for the first time to serve free meals to all students, regardless of income. That authority is now set to expire on June 30.
Schools whose nutrition programs feed millions of kids daily are in a tailspin after expecting an extension for another year. The flexibility allowed an additional 10 million students to eat free meals at school each day.
The sudden shift sparked a fierce political fight Wednesday over who is to blame.
As David Roberts explained on Twitter, there is exactly one side to blame for what's happened with the failure to extend the program, but you'd never know that from the reporting at Politico and other outlets.
Which, sadly, is exactly right. If there's one thing Republicans are good at, it's messaging, and forcing their agenda into the public discourse whether it deserves to be or not. Democrats should be screaming to the hills about this latest move by McConnell. We should be pushing the media to hold him accountable, and not allowing the likes of Politico and others to "both sides" this travesty. Look at what it means for millions of children across the country, and imagine that one of those kids is yours. Then vote.
