[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 1, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2399]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H2399]]
                              {time}  1030
THE SPEAKER GIVES SCHOOLCHILDREN CHECKS FOR LEARNING WHILE TAKING AWAY 
                      SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM FUNDING

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, over and over again on the floor of this 
House we have heard from the Members of the majority party. We have 
heard them talk about their concern for America's children. They claim 
that it is our children that they are fighting for.
  However, when it comes to one of our most crucial and direct 
commitments to children, the School Lunch Program, the Republicans were 
eager and willing to sacrifice our children on the alter of their 
capital gains tax cut. Today the hypocrisy grows even greater.
  The Speaker of this House will be visiting a school in Anacostia, the 
Moten Elementary School, to give out checks as a part of his Earning 
for Learning Program. Children get $2 for every book that they have 
read.
  However, while he doles out the cash payments, the fact is that these 
children will be suffering a devastating loss at the hands of the 
Speaker; 397 of the 422 children in this school take part in the School 
Lunch Program. Since the funds will be slashed, these kids will not 
have the money that they need to have that program, and many of them in 
fact will go hungry.
  We know what that does to learning. In the words of Richard Nixon, 
who strongly supported this program, ``a child, ill fed, is dulled in 
curiosity, lower in stamina, distracted from learning.''
  Please, we must have the School Lunch Program. The Speaker is talking 
out of both sides of his mouth.

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