Republican Rep. Rich McCormick Advises High School Students Receiving Free Lunch To Get A Job Instead Of ‘Sponging Off The Government’

Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), who supports the White House's freeze on federal aid that could affect school lunch programs, suggested in a CNN interview that children could get fast food jobs to cover their lunch costs.
Photo Credit: Unsplash/ Antor Paul

Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), who supports the White House‘s freeze on federal aid that could affect school lunch programs, suggested in a CNN interview that children could get fast food jobs to cover their lunch costs. He spoke about President Trump’s recent executive order to pause federal grants for review and prioritization. 

The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a memo on Monday to temporarily halt all federal financial assistance activities. This freeze was set to start Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET, but U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the action just before it was to take effect, with the new deadline set for February 3.

In an interview prior to the judge’s ruling, CNN anchor Pamela Brown highlighted that the Head Start program, which aids low-income families with food insecurities, might be impacted by the freeze. McCormick’s respondedby saying,

“Before I was even 13 years old, I was picking berries in the field before (the) child labor laws that precluded that. I was a paper boy, and when I was in high school, I worked my entire way through,”

McCormick told Brown.

McCormick stated that the pause on federal funds will enable the government to

“see where is the money really being spent.”

McCormick said during the interview,

“Who can actually go and actually produce their own income? Who can actually go out there and do something that makes them have value and work skills for the future?” 

The congressman expanded on his child labor comments saying,

“How many people got their start in fast-food restaurants when they were kids, versus just giving a blanket rule that gives all kids lunches in high school who are capable of going out and actually getting a job…”

He went on to say that children should be

“thinking about their future instead of thinking about how they’re going to sponge out the government when they don’t need to.”

#Clique, what are your thoughts?

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