[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 40 (Friday, March 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NUTRITION BLOCK GRANT PROPOSAL

  (Mr. GANSKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GANSKE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask a simple question of my 
colleagues across the aisle--Since when did the Government have the 
right to use the taxes of low-income people to subsidize families who 
live in $400,000 houses and earn $300,000 a year? I always thought they 
supported giving money to the needy and making the wealthy pay their 
fair share. Well, that is just what the Republican nutrition block 
grant proposal does. Eighty percent of the funds will be used to 
provide meals for low-income children.
  Democrats have been ranting and raving for years that we should not 
subsidize the rich. Here is the perfect opportunity for them to offer 
bipartisan support to a proposal which does just that. An Omaha World 
Herald editorial drove the point home well. School lunch bureaucrats 
would have you believe that children from upper-income families are 
paying the total cost of the lunch. Wrong. Full price for these 
children means the Government is subsidizing their lunches 30 cents for 
each lunch.
  I think upper-income children can afford this extra 30 cents. We do 
not need to subsidize middle- and upper-income school lunchers. We need 
to subsidize the poor.
  The proposed changes in the nutrition programs are a way to make sure 
that those who can pay their way will, and those who cannot get help.

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