Mike McFadden on Welfare & Poverty

Let states decide school lunch payments, not feds

Under the current rules, children from families with incomes below $30,615 for a family of 4 are eligible for free meals; those with incomes below $43,568 for a family of 4 are eligible for reduced-price meals. Franken is re-introducing legislation, the Expand School Meals Act, to pay the rest of the cost for those students who only qualify for the reduced-price meals.

Businessman Mike McFadden said the matter of paying for school lunches should be left to the states to handle. The Minnesota House did, in fact, vote last week to set aside $3.5 million a year to cover the cost of reduced-price lunches.