Elijah Lewis: “Yesterday I ate breakfast and lunch with students at two schools in Atlanta, Payton Forest Elementary School and…”

“Yesterday I ate breakfast and lunch with students at two schools in Atlanta, Payton Forest Elementary School and Thomasville Heights Elementary School. Many of these children were receiving these meals through the School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. For some of them it was the first decent meal they had had since Friday, the last time they were in school. Mr. Speaker, it is cold and heartless, it is just plain mean, for the Republican majority to deprive these children of their school breakfast and lunches. This program is a success. It provides the food necessary for children to learn. Children cannot learn on an empty stomach, they cannot learn if they are hungry. The cost of my breakfast and lunch yesterday was a combined $2.70. Surely, this is not too great a cost to pay to feed our children, to give them the nutrition they need to learn and to grow. In their rush to provide tax breaks to the wealthy, the Republican majority would steal lunch money from our kids. I, for one, do not want any part of that contract and I don't think the American people do either.”