That was a point Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money (I don’t have the specific link) made a while back: the United States has the resources to feed every kid in America currently living with hunger. Not doing so is a policy choice. It’s usually policy by inaction, by not doing anything to change that, but it’s still a policy.
And in some cases, Republicans make it an active decision. The Community Eligibility Provision to school lunch programs allows schools to provide free food to all students regardless of need. This only applies to low-income school districts so it’s not like billionaire kids will get free meals (heck, if that were the case Repubs would probably love it). It’s more efficient for schools than collecting and means-testing individual applications. So naturally the Congressional Republicans want to kill it. Just like last year a Republican senator objected to rules that wouldn’t let schools refuse lunch to LGBTQ kids.
I presume this is a variation of the Republican belief in sticks over carrots. If parents know their kids have food, that’s one more incentive for them to be lazy; conservatives (at least those who oppose free lunch programs) won’t acknowledge any other reason for lacking money or food. Similarly Rep. Glenn Grothman thinks providing food stamps and affordable housing discourages work and marriage. Plus there’s the terrifying fear that somebody, somewhere, will get something they don’t deserve. That’s unacceptable unless it’s well-off white people like themselves.
It’s a policy choice the same way that not doing anything about mass shootings is a policy choice. Or any flooding in the blue counties Ron DeSantis is denying flood-control funds to is a policy choice. If Texas construction workers pass out because Gregg Abbott overrode regulations for mandatory water breaks, that’s a policy choice. If defunding Pentagon anti-extremism efforts allows more violence or terrorism, that’s a choice too. So is letting diseases spread because they oppose vaccine mandates.
That’s not to say we can eliminate hunger 100 percent. There may be abused kids, sex-trafficked kids, runaway kids who can’t be found and fed. As one excellent article discusses, providing free medical care and shelter space won’t save every homeless person. But they can save a lot. We can feed a lot of kids.
But we don’t. And Republicans don’t want us to.
