Friday, October 18, 2013

Free meals to students will be served even if agreement on shutdown isn’t reached soon

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/free-meals-to-students-will-be-served-even-if-agreement-on-shutdown-isnt-reached-soon/2013/10/15/c49050de-35d4-11e3-8a0e-4e2cf80831fc_story.html

2. Category of problem: children and government assistance

3. Level of problem: national

4. What this is about: While the government shutdown has affected various programs, the free or reduced meals program is not as affected. The USDA stated that there is funding available for people already receiving aid from this program and the carryover money from 2013 will be used to continue funding.

5. Who this affects: children of families that are affected by the government shutdown. Also, the shutdown continues to affect workers that are no longer getting paid. There is concern as to if there is enough money for the workers that are no longer getting paid that are now eligible for their children to receive aid.

6. My thoughts:  I'm glad that there is money to keep feeding the children receiving reduced or free meals. It would be a shame if they were affected by the shutdown. Child nutrition programs should remain a priority and a main concern even during all this budget confusion. The families that are no longer receiving a paycheck due to the shutdown that now fall into the category of being eligible to receive funds should be entitled to those funds. Although if certain government places are no longer operating then it may be difficult for them to go through the application process and get approved. If no one is working there, then no one will do the proper paperwork to get the money to go where it should. I'm seeing more and more how the government shutdown affects so many people.


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