What AOC wants is tax rich.
Bernie Sanders wants this eat rich.
Now President Biden wants taxpayers to: feed There is a free school lunch program for all, including those with six- and seven-figure incomes.
When the government closed schools in 2020, state officials mailed electronic benefit transfer cards to families with children eligible for taxpayer-funded meals during the school year.
The federal government then extended the program through the summer as a “temporary” aid.
The Pandemic-EBT program would be layered on top of the food stamp program that is already available year-round to needy families, amounting to nearly $1,000 per month for a family of four.
Like most “temporary” government programs, Pandemic EBT (now called Summer EBT) will remain in place.
The decision to implement summer EBT ultimately rests with the states.
Of course, Governor Hochul took the bait.
Although this is a federal program, New York State will still be responsible for half of the state’s administrative costs.
Team Biden’s new plan would significantly expand who is eligible for free school meals during the summer by using community eligibility provisions rather than individual income, as the food stamp program does.
In fact, students attending eligible schools do not need to submit an application for free meals at all.
CEP means that if a certain number of students in a school qualify for free school meals because of low family income, then all students in that school qualify, and students with high family incomes who would not normally qualify It states that it will also include.
Biden officials lowered this eligibility level just a few months ago, so only a quarter of the students would need to be eligible for taxpayer-funded lunches for the entire school. This will be reduced from 40%.
The USDA acknowledges that this expansion is not financially viable for many schools.
Hochul recently committed $134 million in state taxpayer funding to encourage schools to adopt CEP.
Under these new guidelines, more than 70% of public school children (35 million students) could be eligible for taxpayer-funded summer lunches without application or income requirements.
These students are already eligible for new taxpayer-funded lunches during the school year, regardless of their family income.
USDA is “ready” to apply this liberal standard to the summer EBT.
It’s clear that the Biden administration wants the relaxed standards for the summer EBT program to mirror those of the Pandemic EBT, which would mean sending EBT cards to higher-income households.
The true cost is still unknown.
Team Biden knows to permanently expand welfare measures Expansion of the Democratic Party’s voter base In an election year.
And in a rush to cast a wider net to woo voters with free meals, a free lunch program originally pitched to help poor families forced into remote learning is now permanent. high-income households will be caught up in this.
Thirty-seven states and Washington, D.C., have opted to participate in Summer EBT, which reinstates provisions of Biden’s failed Build Back Better plan.
That number could change as some state legislatures fight to force the introduction of taxpayer-funded meal programs that send families an extra $40 a month per child each summer. .
And the Biden administration, along with prominent Democrats, is resorting to bullying Republican-led states if they don’t cooperate, as states like Nebraska change their minds about participating in federal expansion programs. .
Families in real need already qualify for generous year-round food stamp benefits.
And under the Biden administration, those beneficiaries received a 27% hike in a measure that bypassed Congress and raised food prices.
Many states also have their own summer meal programs, and state budgets provide significant funding to food banks.
The reality is that summer EBT is not about child hunger.
The plan all along was universal meals provided to students with taxpayer funds, regardless of income. Permanent summer EBT, along with lowering CEP eligibility, has been on Biden’s agenda since the failure of Build Back Better.
Conditioning students to receive preloaded EBT cards before they leave the nest creates a new generation of dependence rather than helping those who truly need it.
Unfortunately, supporting policies that promote self-sufficiency and independence has always been more difficult than selling “free” money.
The 13 holdout states that rejected Biden’s plan to use tax dollars to feed high-income families deserve a lot of credit.
This is welfare expansion for the worst case scenario.
Too many colleagues forget that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Paige Terryberry is a senior fellow at the Government Accountability Foundation.
