Burgess Owens: “no discussion is more important than the one that is now under way here in Washington concerning the budget and all…”

“no discussion is more important than the one that is now under way here in Washington concerning the budget and all matters related to fiscal appropriations policies. The discussion that we have just heard is a very vital one. It relates to one small facet of the total budget and one small portion of the Contract With America. The question of school lunches and whether they have been cut or not has been thoroughly discussed and we will have some more discussion on it. It is very important because in the process of trying to save money on school lunches, there has been some trickery. We are moving under the cover of a block grant and we are talking about giving additional money to take care of inflation. We are not discussing the fact that an entitlement is being taken away, an entitlement. Every hungry child who has a certain income level is entitled now to a free lunch, which means that no matter how large that number increases and how great it becomes, the free lunch will always be there for the hungry child. In the block grant process, there is a finite number of children who can be fed. The Federal Government has only provided a finite amount of money. There is no supplementary budget at the Federal level that you can fall back on. You cannot go to the treasury of the Federal Government. They have washed their hands of the process once they give the block grant. So it is up to the States.…”