SEDALIA: Missouri Rep. Akin opposes spending on National School Lunch Program - Politics Wires - MiamiHerald.com
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SEDALIA -- Missouri’s two U.S. Senate candidates tangled Thursday over whether taxpayers should subsidize school lunches for more than 34 million students across the country.
U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican candidate, said he opposes federal spending for the National School Lunch Program, which provides cash and surplus food for nearly 650,000 school lunches in Missouri each day.
“Is it something the federal government should do?” Akin said. “I answer it no. … I think the federal government should be out of the education business.”
Akin made the statement outside the 60th annual Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair on the week many students are heading back to the classroom.
The big-tent, early-morning gathering was an opportunity for candidates of both parties to shake hands, distribute literature and profess support for the state’s farmers and ranchers.
Akin’s Democratic opponent, Sen. Claire McCaskill, quickly attacked Akin’s opposition to the federal school lunch subsidy.
“I support federal school lunches,” she said. “The notion that the federal government should stop using surplus commodities to help public schools feed kids lunch is a nonstarter for me.”
McCaskill was referring to one part of the school lunch program in which the federal government buys surplus food and distributes it to public and private school cafeterias. In fiscal year 2011, the government sent surplus food such as meat, cheese and fruit worth $24.8 million to lunchrooms across Missouri.
This week, the government said it would purchase meat and fish worth $170 million to help farmers stricken by the drought. Some of those chops and filets will find their way into school lunches.
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