Susan Davis: “I realize this amendment will most likely not be ruled in order, but I offer it to raise awareness to a critical…”

“I realize this amendment will most likely not be ruled in order, but I offer it to raise awareness to a critical problem. In an effort to leverage its limited quality-of-life resources, the armed services are privatizing military family housing. I support this effort. In fact, we have some wonderful projects online in San Diego. But as you know, obviously there are unintended consequences of a good program. I would like to point out two in particular. This is creating a loss of income to school districts, and it is affecting the eligibility for free and reduced school lunch programs for the children of military families. Let me give my colleagues some background. When a family lives in a military family housing community, they basically forfeit their basic housing allowance. But when that community housing becomes privatized, this basic allowance for housing is included on the servicemembers' pay statement. That is called an LES. Servicemembers do not actually receive this income, however. It is basically pass-through. Unfortunately, under the Department of Agriculture rules, this amount is included as income in determining eligibility for free and reduced school lunches.”