Political Quotes

“recently, I was disheartened to learn that some children of the men and women who proudly serve our country in the U.S. armed services are unfairly losing their eligibility to receive free- and reduced-priced school meals. This is occurring for no reason other than that their family home is being privatized or they have been asked to move into a new, privatized military home. Because program eligibility is based on income, the additional compensation in the form of a housing allowance received by military personnel to pay for privatized military housing can result in the loss of meal benefits, although there is no real increase in salary or disposable income. In addition, schools attended by the children of military personnel could lose Federal and State education aid based on free- and reduced-priced meal counts, including their designation and funding as title I schools. I support the Department of Defenses' plan to improve the standards of military housing through privatization, but Congress must resolve this unintended consequence of the Department of Defense's housing policy before more otherwise qualified children lose access to free- and reduced-priced school meals. H.R. 3216 addresses and solves this problem for the next two school years at no cost.”