BRAIN ADDLED ROBERT KENNEDY JUNIOR IS NOT RUNNING HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DESPITE BEING THE PERSON WITH THE TITLE OF SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT.
AS THE CRAZED AND INSANE JUNIOR WAS PROPOSING TO FOLLOW HIS DO-NOTHING LIFE PATTERN BY NOT RESPONDING TO THE BIRD FLU ("MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST LET THE BIRD FLU RUN RAMPANT"), THE WORM JUNIOR HAS LONG CONFESSED TO HAVING IN HIS HEAD BURST THROUGH THE SIDE OF HIS HEAD AS PICTURED BELOW.
CROOKED CRIMINAL MISTER MIND HAS BEEN LIVING IN JUNIOR'S HEAD.
MISTER MIND FIRST CAME TO FAME BY WORKING WITH ADOLF HITLER AND BENITO MUSSOLINI AS PART OF THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL AND TODAY MISTER MIND WORKS WITH SOUTH AFRICAN-BORN ALIEN TESLA MUSK AND CONVICTED FELON DONALD CHUMP. AS HE EXPLAINED IN HIS BRIEF PRESS CONFERENCE, "I REALLY WANTED TO GET IN BED WITH THE MOST EVIL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD TODAY."
THOUGH REPEATEDLY DEFEATED BY VARIOUS D.C. SUPERHEROES OVER THE YEARS, MISTER MIND NOW CONTROLS THE BRAIN OF JUNIOR AND HE INTRODUCED HIMSELF TO AMERICA AS HSS SECRETARY TODAY DECLARING HE WAS "RUNNING HHS. I SLIPPED INTO JUNIOR WITH ZAC LEVI. I NEED A LIFE BEYOND SHAZAM COMIC BOOKS."
Ann's "F**k you, Little Chris Hayes"
went up last night. So last night on ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES, Chris
wanted to talk and inform. But not really. Really informing would have
required telling his viewers that the man he brought on to talk about
what we Democrats need to do was not, in fact, a Democrat. Waleed
Shahid is not a Democrat.
He's many things
including a racist. He went honk-honk-honkey-ing to defeat Kamala
Harris. Kamala is a Black woman. Waleed is a White man. Rashida Tlaib
is also White -- as Elaine noted in "Consequences."
Let's stop there for just a minute. We all learn. In 2008, in a
supportive segment on Ralph Nader in a snapshot, I called him a person
of color. He immediately responded to correct me. He was White. He
was an Arab. And he was correct. I looked into it. Arabs have always
been considered White.
Afro-Iraqis are Black.
But unless you belong to a group like that, if you're Arab -- and most
of Iraq is -- then you're White. And let's include this video about
Afro-Iraqis.
So
White Waleed attacked the Black woman. And like so many others in DSA,
they pretend they believe in reparations. They don't. The spirit of
reparations would have said you backed the Black woman -- she's running
against a White racist, you back the Black woman -- it's not just right,
it's the historically right thing to do. She was qualified and she was
running against a convicted monster who was a racist and who called her a
whore in the debate -- a remark the media intentionally overlooked. DSA
worked to defeat her.
That includes honk-honk-honkey Waleed.
On racism, let's note this about today's DSA.
Karen Attiah is the Black journalist DSA was attacking and you can go to this thread for more people -- including DSA members -- noting the very real problem of racism in the DSA.
Chris
might need to address the lack of Black people on his program --
especially considering he brought on White Waleed, noted racist.
Viewers
had a right to know that Waleed was a Socialist, that he wasn't a
Democrat and that he worked to defeat Kamala. Viewers had a right to
know that.
Equally true, I don't
like echo chambers. And I don't like the circle jerk. NPR is under
attack. That's another reason Ava and I wrote "MEDIA: Taylor Lorenz doesn't do analytics or journalism (at least not in
any meaningful manner)" Tuesday to replace the piece we'd written on
Sunday intending for it to go up there -- it's in this morning's gina
& krista round-robin instead. We called out by name a liar at NPR.
And what he's doing can get NPR cut off from federal funding. He's
part of a behind-the-scene circle jerk. They work together to ensure
that 'the message' gets out. We quoted from three e-mails but I've seen
many more. And what happens is Amy Goodman, the NPR man and many other
media types get these 'blasts' telling them what stories to cover and
who to have as their guest. Amy had Waleed already this week so I guess
was time for him to be handed off to another outlet.
Taylor Lorenz did a hideous video yesterday (see Ava and my "MEDIA: Taylor Lorenz doesn't do analytics or journalism (at least not in
any meaningful manner)"). She wanted you to know about fake asses.
She's part of the DSA circle jerk which is why she didn't tell you
about those fake asses. JACOBIN is the DSA bible and Ana did their
podcast, hosted it. She did it very poorly and gathered a ton of
complaints but they kept her on. That's a whole other story but just in
case this is the last snapshot what I'm really trying to get at today
is that you need to start asking yourself if it's okay that outlets you
trust are lying and tricking you? Is it really worth it to you? All of
these things taking place in the shadows and hidden from you. That's
okay?
Why are we hearing from Waleed to begin with? Is it MSDSA?
And how little does Chris respect his audience that he knowingly lies to them?
Last
night, I made the above points to a friend at MSNBC -- an exec -- who
did not get the point I was making until I moved over to this:
Donald Trump's revenge tour is reaching your living room: He wants to SHUT DOWN MSNBC!
Trump's
latest attack on free speech could have DIRE consequences. We must
stand up for the
First Amendment and the brave journalists who work to
find the truth and hold the powerful accountable, and our URGENT Live
Poll will show that Americans support MSNBC.
Recognize it? It's from junk mail that the DSCC blasted yesterday.
Chump wants to end MSNBC.
Why is Chris helping him with that?
Because
that's what he's doing when he knowingly lies to viewers. He's giving
Chump ammunition. Chris knowingly lied to the viewers last night.
Let me join Ann in saying f**k you to Chris Hayes. I'm going to focus on how he impacted my night. We were working on a group post and that would have allowed us to all be done -- Wally, Cedric, Ann, Isaiah, C.I. and myself -- before we had to do the roundtable for the gina & krista round-robin. We all had the TV or music on in the background s we pitched ideas and jokes.
Ann had Chris Hayes on in the background. By pulling the stunt he did, the group post screeched to a halt so that Ann could write and post "F**k you, Little Chris Hayes."
So for that reason alone, F**k you, Chris Hayes.
But also for what he did. He brought on a Socialist who worked to defeat Kamala. He brought that ass on and didn't disclose that. How are we supposed to trust Chris Hayes now? When he lies to us, how are we supposed to trust him?
Shonda Rhimes is looking back at her wildly successful series Grey’s Anatomy, which is now on season 21 on ABC.
However, there is a moment that she thought would “kill” the entire show, and it happened way back in 2007.
THR asked if she had a “rose” and “thorn” for her time with the medical drama, and she elaborated on the thorn moment.
“I think the thorn was having the bubble of joy burst so early on Grey’s [with the Isaiah Washington
incident] and not having anybody interested in helping us deal with it,
because that really shaped a lot of how we looked at the world going
forward — and a lot of how [creative partner Betsy Beers]
and I processed working with other people going forward. I mean, that
was the thing we thought was going to kill the show. And it’s funny,
every Grey’s actor I talk to who was there during that time is still
traumatized by that incident. People still talk about it. So, that was
the thorn. But I also think that there were so many roses that the thorn
stopped mattering. I mean, that was the thing we thought was going to
kill the show.”
Remember that? Remember how Isaiah lied and I can't remember the Black woman who was at his side lying for him. He wasn't a homophobe, he lied. He's MAGA. We all know that, right? He's MAGA now. He was always trash.
And remember when he lied saying Shonda really supported him and would come out and say so?
He's deranged and delusional and that's why his career is over.
The show's creator recalled the controversy that emerged after
Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke, used a homophobic slur on set
and was fired from the series in 2007. "That was the thing we thought
was going to kill the show," she told The Hollywood Reporter.
The scandal made the "bubble of joy" from the show's success in its two-year run "burst so early," Rhimes recalled.
"And it’s funny, every Grey’s
actor I talk to who was there during that time is still traumatized by
that incident," she revealed. "People still talk about it."
Thursday, March 20, 2025. Chuck Schumer can't lead and we all need to face that reality for our own good.
Let's start with the topic of Senator Chuck Schumer who is the Minority Leader in the Senate.
Mr.
Judy Woodruff Al Hunt says we're now in a Constitutional crisis and
James Carville agrees. But then they rush -- like idols, scared of
their shadows elderly idiots, to defend Chuck and his lie -- because he
did say he'd be voting against the Chump budget and then he voted for it
-- and his actions.
"This was not the time," Al says. When is the damn time?
Now here's Chris Hayes from his show last night.
Chris
feels the Democrats is fighting the last war. He says "It appears now
is the time to break glass, it's not the time or politics as usual."
Roll Chris and Al and James together and you've got three people who don't get it.
Let's
address reality which the three didn't. The three want to look at
Chuck's betrayal from the vote. They don't want to address how he
misled, they don't want admit that this wasn't some grand strategy all
along on his part. Remember, Chuck switched as Marin Scotten (THE NEW REPUBLIC) reported:
Democrats are turning on Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi is leading the charge.
Schumer announced Thursday he would vote to pass Trump’s disastrous budget bill to avert a government shutdown, flipping
on his own party just 24 hours after he signaled he would vote against
the bill. Pelosi issued a statement the next day urging Senate Democrats
not to follow his lead.
“Donald
Trump and Elon Musk offered the Congress a false choice between a
government shutdown or a blank check that makes a devastating assault on
the well-being of working families across American,” Pelosi said in a statement.
“Let’s
be clear: neither is a good option for the American people. But this
false choice some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable,”
Pelosi continued, referencing Schumer’s betrayal. “I salute Leader
Hakeem Jeffries for his courageous rejection of this false choice, and I
am proud of my colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus for their
overwhelming vote against this bill.”
"24 hours after he signaled he would vote against the bill."
That's the reality being ignored.
James
can blather away about supposed pee tapes, for example, but he can't
deal with the reality that Chuck announced one thing and did another.
He can't acknowledge it.
Again, he loathes
Chump so Carville's happy to talk mythical pee tapes -- which helps no
one -- but we're not going to really examine what happened.
If
this was Chuck in all his wisdom -- as Al and Chris seem to think --
making his decision, why had he reversed himself. Was he having a
senior momemnt and if so was he having it when he was going to vote
against the bill or when he was voting for the bill.
Pompous Carville declares, "There are going to be plenty of hills to die on."
Are there?
Will you put in writing you triangulating fool? Can we hold you to that?
You're saying we're in a Constitutional Crisis but there are other hills to die on.
I
haven't said that we're in a Constitutional Crisis. I'm not calling
out people who do. I think we're headed for one but I don't think we're
there yet.
But three people who do think we
are there want to talk about Schumer and none want to truly hold him
accountable for his cowardly action.
He can't be leader because he can't lead.
If
we're in a Constitutional Crisis -- as they think -- we need to see
leadership and Chuck demonstrated none. He caved like the coward he's
become.
And that's what matters because that's what he gave the American people: Cowardice.
And
I don't think we can afford that right now. And if we are in the
Constitutional Crisis right now -- as the three think -- we sure can't
afford it.
What Americans needed to see was leadership and courage and Chuck demonstrated none. In front of the whole country.
If
this is a battle for democracy -- I believe it is -- then you need the
American people and you don't get them to speak out and speak up by
being a coward. All that does is tell the people themselves (a) Be a
coward like Chuck and (b) grasp that we didn't fight in Congress for you
this time and we're not going to fight for you later.
The chill that's in the air these days? Chuck made it a lot colder.
Chuck is a coward.
Maybe
men don't get it? Is it a gender thing? We spend, women, so much of
our time building up men -- some of whom we know are losers, let's be
honest. We spend so much time basically raising them to be ready to
take action, coddling them and encouraging them to be big boys all on
their own.
It's like the scene in Sandra
Seacat's IN THE SPIRIT -- written by Jeannie Berlin and Laurie Jones --
where Marianne (Elaine May) and Reva (Marlo Thomas) are on the run from a
killer:
Reva: Now is the time when you really wish you had a man around, isn't it?
Marianne: Yeah.
Reva: God, I wish Ed were here now. Don't you wish Roger were here?
Marianne:
Oh, yeah. Well . . . No. Well . . . Roger would need a lot of
attention in a situation like this. It's really insane, isn't it, how
you kill yourself taking care of someone just to get them in good enough
shape to take care of you.
We don't have that kind of time.
And
if it's a Constitutional Crisis, we certainly don't have time for it --
time to battle and time to act as Chuck's motivational coach.
He sent a message of surrender to the American people.
If
we're carted off tomorrow to a prison in El Salvador, do we really
believe that Chuck's got our back? If we are protesting in the streets
to save democracy, do we feel Chuck's going to be there with us? Not
even in spirit. He's a surrender monkey. That's what he exposed
himself as.
U.S. President Donald
Trump will sign a long-anticipated executive order on Thursday that aims
to shut down the Department of Education, acting on a key campaign
pledge, according to a White House summary seen by Reuters.
Even
before it was signed, the order was being challenged by a group of
Democratic state attorneys general, who filed a lawsuit seeking to block
Trump from dismantling the department and halt the layoffs of nearly
half of its staff announced last week.
The NAACP, a leading civil rights group, also blasted the expected order as unconstitutional.
"This
is a dark day for the millions of American children who depend on
federal funding for a quality education, including those in poor and
rural communities with parents who voted for Trump," NAACP President
Derrick Johnson said in a statement.
This
is a dark day. Every day Chump has attacked our education system has
been a dark day. Senator Parry Murray's office issued the following
statement when news of this impending announcement broke late yesterday:
WA STATE FACT SHEET on how Department of Education supports WA students and schools
ICYMI: Murray, Top Appropriators Demand Detailed Answers on Trump Admin’s Sweeping Mass Firings at Department of Education
Shoreline, WA — Today, as reporting
indicates President Trump will sign an Executive Order aimed at
eliminating the Department of Education tomorrow, U.S. Senator Patty
Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a
senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a roundtable discussion with Seattle
School Board President Gina Topp and parents and educators laying out
how President Trump’s moves to dismantle the Department of Education are
a serious threat to students, educators, and public schools throughout
Washington state.
Last week, the Department of Education announced that it was firing more than 1,300
workers as part of Trump and Elon Musk’s indiscriminate mass layoffs
across the federal workforce. This and other administration actions to
date will cut the Department’s workforce in half and effectively gut the
agency. While outright abolishing the Department would require an act
of Congress, President Trump has said repeatedly that he intends to do everything possible to achieve that goal and is expected
to issue an executive order tomorrow that seeks to eliminate the
Department and move its functions to other agencies. On Monday, Senator
Murray led a letter
demanding detailed answers from the Department about the mass firings
it has conducted and how it is carrying out requirements of federal law
and its critical responsibilities despite the sweeping reductions in
force.
“Trump and Musk are taking a wrecking ball to the U.S.
Department of Education and firing half its staff—we’re talking about
the people who make sure federal funds get to our kids and schools, help
students fill out the FAFSA and get Pell Grants and financial aid,
protect students from predatory for-profit colleges, enforce our civil
rights laws, and so much more. What’s the end goal here? Destroying
public education in America—and robbing our students and families of
critical funding while Trump and Musk enrich themselves,” said Senator Murray.
“The effects of Trump and Musk’s slash and burn campaign will be felt
across our state—by students and families who suffer from the loss of
Department staff working to ensure their rights under federal law,
school districts who have to lay off teachers, students who can’t get
the help they need to get financial aid, and families who get ripped off
because the watchdogs were fired. This issue is
personal for me, and for every single family. We cannot relent in this
fight—and we should never underestimate the power of our own voices.”
The Department of Education provides critical funding and support to
students, teachers, and schools in Washington state, including providing
$301 million annually in IDEA funding for 152,000 students with
disabilities—15 percent of Washington’s student population—and $307
million annually in Title I funding for schools enrolling 511,000 from
low-income backgrounds—reflecting 46 percent of Washington’s student
population, among so much else.
Another central responsibility of the Department is to identify,
investigate, and resolve school violations of civil rights laws. A
record number of civil rights complaints (22,687) were filed in Fiscal
Year 2024; 35 percent of cases were based on disability discrimination.
Trump’s plans for the Department of Education are extremely unpopular; 58 percent of voters across the political spectrum oppose eliminating the Department.
“Seattle Public Schools, like districts across the country,
depends on federal funding to ensure every student has access to a
high-quality education. These funds aren’t extras—they provide essential
support for students from low-income families, English learners, and
students with disabilities, breaking down barriers that stand in the way
of opportunity. Cutting these programs doesn’t just hurt students
today—it weakens our entire community and our future. Any cuts to these
programs would undercut our collective future,” said Gina Topp, Seattle Public Schools Board President.
“ED enforces civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination
in the educational environment. These three main laws are Title IX,
which prohibits sex discrimination; Title VI, which prohibits racial
discrimination; and Section 504, which prohibits disability
discrimination. These laws help students in Washington State and across
the county every single day…I help represent the Office for Civil Rights
when offices are sued for how they’ve handled a discrimination
complaint or when the office is sued over a new regulation or piece of
guidance that OCR has published. I work with incredible, dedicated,
hard-working public servants. Many of them have spent decades, or for
some their entire careers, working for ED. The level of experience and
knowledge that they bring to their work is simply irreplaceable,”
said Rebecca Yates, an attorney for the Department of Education, Office
of General Counsel, participating in the discussion in her personal
capacity. “Last Tuesday night, like hundreds of ED employees
across the country, I received an email informing me that my entire
division was being abolished, and my position was being eliminated. I’m
upset about losing my job, but I’m devastated about what’s happening to
the Department of Education, and deeply concerned about the future of
the Department—and the future of public education in this country.”
“Because my children received appropriate early intervention,
IEP services, and accommodations, my oldest son was able to graduate
from college and secure his first job. That success would not have been
possible without federally funded programs that helped level the playing
field for students like him. I once believed I could provide all the
necessary support on my own—I even earned a PhD in my effort to do
so—but I quickly learned that specialized services, trained
professionals, and a strong federal commitment to disability education
are essential,” said Lanya McKittrick, PhD, a special education
researcher and family support professional, and the parent of four kids
with special needs. “As a family support professional working
with parents of children with low-incidence disabilities, I see the
impact of these programs every day. Families are already struggling with
devastating budget cuts that have stripped away services. If we allow
this to continue, we risk undoing over 30 years of progress in
disability rights and education.”
“I am deeply concerned about the administration’s recent staffing cuts and plans to dismantle the Education Department,”
said Heather Schwindt, an advocate for kids with special needs and
parent of two kids with disabilities, one of whom relies on an
Individualized Education Program (IEP) plan to succeed in school. “This
decision will set back public education and harm students with
disabilities. A primary concern is the potential loss of funding for
essential services and programs supporting students with disabilities.
These services, mandated by federal laws such as the IDEA and Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act, are crucial for ensuring that students
with disabilities receive a free and appropriate public education.
Reduced staffing, larger special education caseloads, and reduced
capacity for delivering specialized services will result in a reduction
of federal funding for Special Education… 60 years ago, children with
disabilities were often denied the right to attend school. We’ve made
progress with Section 504, IDEA, and the Department of Education and
there is more progress to be made. The Department of Education is vital
with the investments it makes in providing research to practice models,
providing data on student outcomes nationally, and helping our state and
others continue to push to do better for all children.”
A senior member and former chair of the HELP Committee, Senator
Murray has championed students and families at every stage of her
career—fighting to help ensure every child in America can get a
high-quality public education. Among other things, Senator Murray
negotiated the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), landmark legislation that she got signed into law, replacing the broken No Child Left Behind Act.
As a longtime appropriator, she has successfully fought to boost
funding to support students and invest in our nation’s K-12 schools, and
she has secured significant increases to
the Pell Grant so that it goes further for students pursuing a higher
education. Senator Murray also successfully negotiated the FAFSA
Simplification Act, bipartisan legislation to reform the financial aid
application process, simplify the FAFSA form for students and parents,
and significantly expand eligibility for federal aid.
On Monday, Senator Murray led a letter
demanding detailed answers from the Department of Education about the
mass firings and other detrimental actions which risk major reductions
in support for and oversight of federal investments in our nation’s K-12
schools and institutions of higher education and threaten vital support
for students with disabilities, access to Pell Grants and other
financial aid, oversight of student loan servicers, scrutiny of
for-profit colleges, and more. The letter follows an earlier March 6 letter Senator
Murray sent alongside colleagues demanding answers about the chaotic,
harmful actions taken by ED since January—which the Department has yet
to respond to. During Secretary Linda McMahon’s confirmation hearing,
Senator Murray pressed McMahon
on whether she will ensure approved funding gets out to serve students
as the law requires and whether she would protect students’ data from
DOGE. She also asked McMahon to name a single requirement of ESSA—and
McMahon couldn’t name any. Ahead of McMahon’s confirmation, Senator
Murray spoke out
on the Senate floor against her nomination and sounded the alarm over
President Trump and Elon Musk’s plans to dismantle the U.S. Department
of Education.
A fact sheet outlining how the Department of Education supports students in Washington state is HERE.
###
Where is Chuck?
That's the question all the time lately. The country needs leadership and where the hell is Chuck.
I
can tell you where he planned to be -- at various events hawking his
ghost-written book, trying to sell that thing and enrich himself yet
again.
Where's Chuck?
Chump's gutted school meals. Let's note this press release from US House Rep Josh Gottheimer:
Today, March 17, 2025, U.S. Congressman Josh
Gottheimer (NJ-5) joined local leaders at Memorial Elementary School to
announce new steps in his “Stop School Hunger Plan,” which include new
action and legislation to protect school meal programs from far-right
extremists so that no child goes hungry. Gottheimer is fighting back
against a new tax the Trump Administration is imposing on our families: a
$1 billion cut in federal funding for fresh fruits and vegetables at
schools and food banks, including a $26 million cut hurting Jersey
children and families.
Trump Administration’s Dangerous Cuts to School Meals:
Last week, the Trump Administration announced they
were slashing more than $1 billion in federal funding provided by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture for schools and food banks to purchase
fresh, locally sourced food.
New Jersey is losing $26 million in previously committed funding
that would have supported 46 local farms and food producers across the
state — including 11 farms in New Jersey’s Fifth District alone.
$9.9 million cut for NJ from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program.
$16 million cut for NJ from the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement.
The Administration’s cuts will gut school meal programs and help
lead to higher local property taxes for hardworking Jersey families
across the state.
Importance of School Meals:
According to Feeding America, more than 44 million people in the U.S. face hunger, including one in five children.
In Jersey, nearly 10% of the population is food insecure.
More than a quarter of Americans are skipping meals because they cannot afford their weekly grocery bill.
Hunger in the classroom decreases a student’s ability to focus,
worsens their physical activity, and causes stomach aches, headaches,
depression, and anxiety.
A Tufts University study showed elementary school students who eat
breakfast listen better and have better spatial memory and short-term
memory than students who skip breakfast.
Students who skip breakfast generally make more errors, have slower
memory recall, and are more likely to be absent, tardy, and to repeat a
grade.
Food-insecure families spend $2,500 more a year for health care than families with enough to eat.
Studies have shown that addressing hunger can lead to drops in violent crime.
Gottheimer’s Stop School Hunger Plan:
This week, Gottheimer is sending a letter to the new U.S. Secretary
of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, urging the Administration to reverse
these vicious cuts to school breakfast and lunch programs and demanding
answers on why these cuts were made while stressing the disastrous
impact they will have on Jersey children, families, and farmers.
Gottheimer will introduce the Expanding Access to School Meals Act,
which allows any child who qualifies for reduced meals to receive them
at no cost.
This legislation also expands the poverty threshold for free school
lunch from 130% to 224% of the federal poverty level — which Jersey
currently does.
Gottheimer has long championed strengthening school meal programs so no child goes hungry:
Last Congress, Gottheimer helped introduce the
No Hungry Kids in Schools Act, which would eliminate requirements to
collect bureaucratic, hard-to-manage applications from individual
households that prevent many children and families from receiving
assistance.
Students will automatically qualify for assistance based on the needs determined by the State.
Last Congress, Gottheimer helped introduce the
Universal School Meals Bill, which would provide meals to all
schoolchildren, eliminate burdensome application paperwork, increase
reimbursement rates for participating schools, and reduce the stigma
associated with meal programs.
During the pandemic, Gottheimer fought to claw back federal dollars to help feed children who were food insecure.
More than 9 million meals were provided in the Fifth District, compared to more than 6 million meals before the pandemic.
“You can’t propel a rocket without fuel – the same goes for a growing
student. They are rockets ready to take off to a successful life and
career. Yet, the Trump Administration is slashing a billion dollars of
food assistance for America’s children and the most vulnerable in our
communities, which will lead to higher taxes on Jersey families. I
simply don’t get it. Not only are far-right extremists sticking it to
our farmers and the local economy, they are so dead set on cutting
federal spending without a plan that they are willing to literally
snatch fresh fruits and vegetables out of the mouths of hungry children.
It’s shameless,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), a member of the Congressional Hunger Caucus. “There
is nothing red or blue about feeding our children and educating the
leaders of the future — it’s why school breakfast and lunch has always
been a bipartisan issue. Not only is it the right thing to do for our
children’s health and wellness, but they are key to our long-term
competitiveness as a nation.”
Gottheimer was joined by Bergen County Commissioner Tracy Zur,
Maywood Mayor Richard Bolan, Maywood Councilwoman Katherine Bennin,
Maywood Councilman Douglas Herrick, Maywood Superintendent Michael
Jordan, CFA Executive Director Nicole Davis, NJ School Nutrition
Association Sal Valenza, Hunger Free America CEO Joel Berg, and Lisa
Pitz of Hunger Free New Jersey.
Below: Gottheimer with local leaders at Memorial Elementary School in Maywood.
Gottheimer’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are below:
Good morning. It’s great to be here with so many friends and leaders
at Memorial Elementary School in Maywood. You can’t propel a rocket
without fuel — the same goes for a growing student. They are rockets
preparing to take off to a successful life and career. But they won’t
reach their dreams without fuel in the tank.
Unfortunately, too many children in New Jersey are showing up at our
schools every morning with the tank reading empty. It’s a nationwide
problem, and we’re not immune. In fact, studies show that three out of
five public school teachers say that students regularly come to school
hungry. Every day, about 500,000 school age children in Jersey depend on
school breakfast and lunch.
It’s often the only time of day they get to eat, and, in many cases,
the only time a child gets fresh fruit and vegetables. And I don’t mean
ketchup, which technically qualifies as a vegetable in some school
meals. I mean actual vegetables, like the ones you want your kids to eat
so they grow up strong and healthy.
Yet, just this past week, in a shockingly heartless move, the Trump
Administration announced they were gutting the school meals program,
slashing federal funding at the U.S. Department of Agriculture that
provides fresh, locally sourced fruits, vegetables, and food to schools
and food banks.
This includes fresh fruits and vegetables from 46 farms and food
producers across our state — 11 farms in my District alone. New Jersey
farms alone will lose 26 million dollars. With this draconian move, the
Administration is slashing a billion dollars of food assistance for
America’s children and the most vulnerable in our communities. I simply
don’t get it.
Not only are far-right extremists sticking it to our farmers and the
local economy, they are so dead set on cutting federal spending without a
plan that they are willing to literally snatch food out of the mouths
of hungry children. It’s shameless.
That’s why I’m here today, as part of my, Stop School Hunger Plan, to
ensure that no child in New Jersey ever has to sit in a classroom
hungry, focused only on how they might get their next meal instead of
what’s on the blackboard.
The facts couldn’t be clearer: For those students who eat breakfast
and lunch, we see much better performance in the classroom, and they
perform much better when they graduate. Hunger in the classroom leads to
a decreased ability to focus, decreased physical activity, stomach
aches, headaches, depression, and anxiety.
Studies show that students who skip breakfast generally make more
errors, have slower memory recall, and are more likely to be absent,
tardy, and repeat a grade. Meanwhile, students who eat meals at school
are less likely to be hyperactive and have fewer behavioral and
attention problems than their hungry peers. A Tufts University study
also showed elementary school students who eat breakfast listen better
and have better spatial memory and short-term memory than students who
skip breakfast. Students who aren’t hungry have better vitamin and
nutrient intake, healthier overall diets, and less susceptibility to
obesity.
According to Feeding America, more than forty-four million people in
the U.S. face hunger, including one in five children. Here in Jersey,
nearly ten percent of our state’s population is food insecure. More than
a quarter of Americans say they’re skipping meals because they simply
can’t afford their grocery bill. That’s especially true in this
environment of surging food prices, that’s made it extra hard to afford
food on the table. Egg prices are still up 53% from where they were a
year ago, up ten percent from January this year. The USDA predicts that
egg prices will continue to rise 41% more this year.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, beef prices are up ten percent since last year and are expected to rise even more.
Food insecurity doesn’t just lead to poorer health. Food-insecure
families spend $2,500 more a year for health care than families with
enough to eat. And these statistics just scratch the surface: food
insecurity is a public safety issue. Studies have shown that when we
address hunger, violent crime drops. By making sure everyone has enough
to eat, we can make our state safer, healthier, and more successful.
That’s why today, I’m sounding the alarm on the Administration’s
draconian cuts that will hurt our children, and I’m announcing new steps
to strengthen the school meals program, and protect Jersey students and
families.
First, no child in our District should start their days hungry — and
fail in school — because we fail to act. We can’t let a single child go
hungry. I’m sending a letter to the new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture,
Brooke Rollins, urging the Administration to reverse these vicious cuts
to school breakfast and lunch programs, and to stress the disastrous
impact they will have on Jersey children, families, and farmers.
Second, we know that many families who can afford school meals never
sign up because the paperwork is too confusing or burdensome, or they
can’t even afford the reduced meals price. Too often, some schools don’t
provide any meals, even if some kids qualify. Either they don’t like
the stigma of having kids on the school meals program — or they don’t
want to deal with the administrative burden of signing kids up — even
though it’s fully paid for by our tax dollars.
That’s why, last Congress, I helped introduce the No Hungry Kids in
Schools Act to streamline the school meal program with less paperwork —
eliminating requirements to collect bureaucratic, hard to manage
applications from individual households that prevent so many from
receiving assistance. Schools will instead automatically qualify based
on the needs determined by the State. That’s how we increase efficiency
to ensure fewer children go hungry — not by haphazardly cutting programs
that help our families.
The Universal School Meals Bill we are also planning to introduce
will provide meals to all schoolchildren, if any kids in the school
qualifies; it will eliminate burdensome and costly application paperwork
for parents and students, and help reduce the stigma associated with
meal programs. Before the pandemic, there were more than six million
meals provided to students in need across the Fifth District. So, I
fought tooth and nail to help claw back our federal dollars to help feed
our children who needed it. And, during the pandemic, more than nine
million meals were provided — a substantial increase, showing that we
are capable of providing school meals for all.
If the administration goes ahead and guts the school lunch program,
and takes food out of the mouhts of hungry children so that they don’t
perform as well, this will not just be a tax on them personally, but
this will be an additional tax on New Jersey. Because, were not going to
not feed our kids, so that means someone’s going to have to make up the
difference. It’s going to result in this Administration raising taxes
on Jersey families by leaving this huge gap.
Finally, I’m announcing new legislation, the Expanding Access to
School Meals Act, to allow any child who qualifies for reduced meals to
receive them at no cost. New Jersey has already done this, and there is
no reason why it shouldn’t be a national priority. My legislation also
expands the poverty threshold for free school lunch from 130 percent to
224 percent of the federal poverty level — which Jersey currently does.
We can’t just let another day go by and another child go hungry in
the morning. With the tremendous benefits that science tells us eating
breakfast provides for our children, shouldn’t we be doing everything
possible to ensure that no child is hungry in school and that they can
achieve their full potential? New Jersey has some of the best schools in
the country, and providing our children the resources they deserve to
succeed is critical.
There is nothing red or blue about feeding our children and educating
the leaders of the future — it’s why school breakfast and lunch has
always been a bipartisan issue. And the Hunger Caucus, which I’m a
member of, is bipartisan for a reason. This is all common sense. Not
only is it the right thing to do for our children’s health and wellness,
but they are key to our long-term competitiveness as a nation. In the
greatest country in the world, if we work together, and put the health
of our kids first, we can solve this problem, and I know that our best
days will always be ahead of us. Thank you. God bless you, and may God
continue to bless the United States of America.
###
Okay,
we've been covering that issue for weeks now. MSNBC's refusal to
address it seriously is why they got put on hold last Thursday. This is
such a huge issue and it's not being covered.
And
Chuck's not said one word about it. The Minority Leader of the
Senate. All month long, he's ignored it. All month long, the Coward
couldn't find his spine long enough to defend children.
When
the MAGA nuts try to destroy equality with their lies attacking LGBTQ+
people? They lie again to pretend it's for the children. They're liars
and they're trash but they grasp that the American people expect
members of Congress to defend the American children.
Winning issue? Democrats defending children -- from real enemies, those who would take food out of the mouths of children.
Where's Chuck?
He has no leadership to offer.
Including the leadership of stepping aside.
He
won't do it because it's not about the children for Chuck and it's not
about the country or democracy. It's all about that year book credit,
it's all about the pretense. He wants the title -- Minority Leader --
he just doesn't want to do the work.
Let's wind down with a video and press release from Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Boston, MA – At a town hall in Lowell, MA on
Tuesday, March 18th, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) laid out
her strategy to fight Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s dangerous
government takeover hurting Massachusetts families and invited neighbors
from Lowell to join her in the fight.
Transcript: Senator Warren’s Opening Remarks Town Hall in Lowell, MA March 18, 2025
Senator Elizabeth Warren: It is so good to see all
of you. So, look, I’ve got to start out in a pretty hard place. And that
is: our country is under assault right now, assault from within.
Donald Trump ran for office, promising on Day One to lower costs for
American families. He repeated that over and over and over — ran ads on
it, talked about it at every rally, said that one thing he could
promise: on Day One, he’d lower costs for American families.
After he got elected, the very first interview he gave, he said that
was why he won, because he made that promise to lower costs for American
families. Are your costs any lower?
Audience: No!
Senator Warren: No, in fact, look at what Donald
Trump has been doing since he was sworn in. Here we are going into the
third month. Oh, Lord. Going into the third month and what is he doing?
He’s trying to end entire agencies in government.
We’ve got the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – woohoo! The cop
on the beat so you don’t get cheated on your credit card, on your
mortgage, on your car loan, just tried to sweep that completely off the
books. Elon Musk tried to kill the CFPB — just take them out. Take them
out.
The Department of Education, there for our little children, there for
people trying to get a college diploma, there to make sure that a good
public education is available for all of our kids — and they’re trying
to take them out.
And as co-president Musk comes through with his chainsaw, he’s
getting rid of the “fat” that we don’t need in government. You know,
like the nuclear scientists that take care of fissionable material.
Getting rid of air traffic controllers, who keep us safe while we’re on
airplanes. Getting rid of the people who do the testing to make sure
that we can drink the water and breathe the air. Getting rid of the
people who inspect food that comes from foreign countries to make sure
that we can safely eat it. That’s what he thinks is cutting waste,
fraud, and abuse.
And understand, they don’t stop there. They also were out trying to
cut off our future – end the money that goes into medical research, into
scientific research. End the money that goes into higher education. End
the money that goes into building the very foundations of our future.
That’s what they’re trying to do and they’re throwing it up. They’re
throwing up tons of it, every minute.
People say to me, “I can’t keep up. I can’t keep up with the
headlines. There’s too much going on every day.” Understand this: that
is exactly the plan. That is the plan. Because their hope is if you feel
overwhelmed, if you can’t keep up with every piece of it, that you will
simply cover up your head, give up, and let them do whatever they want.
Well, I have to say to them: Not on my watch. Not on my watch.
So you look at the list of things they’ve done, and it may feel
random to you. It’s like what? And they’re over here doing what? I
didn’t even know that thing existed and they did what? There’s a whole
lot of that going on, but again, that’s the hope. When you’ve got a
really ugly plan that nobody much likes – Democrats don’t like it,
Independents don’t like it, and the majority of Republicans don’t like
it, you’ve got to find a way to ram it through, with nobody seeing it
until it’s too late.
So what are they really doing with all those cuts? What is that
chainsaw really about? Why shut down these departments? Why take down
money that we invest in pediatric cancer research? I’ll tell you what
it’s really for. What the Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump and
Elon Musk are trying to do is they want to have a $4.7 trillion giveaway
to a handful of billionaires and billionaire corporations, paid for on
the backs of seniors, veterans, public workers, little kids, and we are
here to say no to them. No.
So this is really important: the next time you’re feeling a little
overwhelmed, the next time you’re thinking, “I’m not sure I’m following
this next piece,” stop and say to yourself, “Oh wait, that is the plan.
That is the plan. And we are the people who are fighting back.”
Here’s why I’m here tonight: I want to tell you three things I’m
doing – and you know I come with an ask – I’m going to ask you to do
three things, and then we’re going to do some questions, I want to hear
from you, and want to talk about other things going on.
So what are we doing? What am I trying to do? I’ll tell you what I’m
doing. I’m doubling down on the Constitution of the United States of
America.
I’m putting my chips on the table and let’s just remember —
Constitutional Law 101, three parts to government. It is the job of
Congress to write the laws and enact the laws. That’s our job. It is the
job of the administration to administer those laws, to carry them out
faithfully. And it is the job of the courts to go after the
administration and hold them accountable if they fail to follow the
law.
So, Part One for me right now, for a whole lot of folks, is we’re
taking Donald Trump and Elon Musk to court. Not once, not twice, we are
in over a hundred lawsuits now. And they’re not through, because
understand this: what Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing is illegal.
They are violating the law. We’ve just got to say it right out loud.
And listen, for any of you who run into your buddies who may have
voted for Donald Trump because they thought he was going to lower prices
– they say, “Well, he got elected.” Yeah, he got elected, and
Republicans control the House and the Senate. If they want to change the
law, the Constitution tells us how to do it. You start in Congress, you
write new laws, then the administration can administer those laws. But
no unelected guy with a chainsaw gets to come out here and shut down
agencies and fire people that are working on behalf of the American
people.
So that’s Part One. We are in court. And the early decisions – look,
they’re not all perfect, not every case is going to line up the right
way, but it’s looking hopeful. The courts are doing what they should be
doing. They’re calling people out who are not following the law. And the
latest sign is it’s moving all the way up to Elon Musk by name. So Part
One.
Alright, Part Two: job in Congress. Go back to what I was talking
about earlier. All the noise, all the sand in the gears, all the
terrible things they’re trying to do, underlying all that is trying to
hand over our government to the billionaires, to a handful of
billionaires and billionaire corporations. This is going to be the fight
over taxes, and that may sound boring – it is not. It is fundamentally
who this government works for. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, a handful of
billionaires who stood up there on the podium when Donald Trump was
sworn in, they say that the United States’ people, the people of this
country, should give them $4.7 trillion in giveaways and make everyone
else pay for it. Because that is their vision of America. An America
that works even better for the billionaires and even worse for everyone
else.
I am a Democrat, and what it means to be a Democrat is every one of
those guys needs to pay their fair share and we need to invest in
Americans. So this fight is the big fight, and this is the fight in
front of us. This is the one coming up right away. So that’s going to be
the second thing. We’re going to be in this fight everywhere we
possibly can.
Part Three is I’m doing everything I can, along with others, to help
raise a movement. Ultimately, we’ve got the courts, we’ve got Congress,
but real power in this nation is the American people. Real power is
here, right here in Lowell, Massachusetts. Real power are the people who
continue to pay attention, the people who continue to reach out, the
people who continue to make their voices heard.
That’s why so much of this fight is trying to get people just to give
up. Trying to overwhelm them so they’ll just cover up their heads.
Trying to say it’s all too complicated, trying to do it all with the
emojis, and let’s do this, make fun of people, let’s try to take them
down. Because they want you to give up. Because you are the true source
of power.
So last week, I was not here in Massachusetts, I was in Texas. Bernie
is in Iowa. Where was Tim Walz — we’ve got a bunch of people out —
Wisconsin, that’s exactly right. But that’s the idea, we’ve got to raise
it, we’ve got to raise it together. So those are three things that I’m
working on, trying to get all of my friends in the Senate and friends
everywhere to work on.
But I’m here to ask you to be part of this as well. And here are my
three asks for you: the first one is tell the stories. We build a
grassroots movement one blade of grass at a time. And you can say cut
federal employees and it may sound like cutting waste, fraud, and abuse.
But when you talk about that you have a child in a pediatric cancer
trial that is supported by federal dollars, and taking those federal
dollars away can threaten that child’s life, that’s a story that
everybody else in America needs to hear.
When you're ready to talk about your neighbor down the street who is
trying hard to be able to live independently — serious accident has got
to have some home health care — and Elon Musk, the richest man on this
planet, thinks that the way we save money is we tell that person, “You
don't get a home health aide, you have to move into a nursing home.
That's all that's going to be available for you.” And then turns around
it says to people who are in nursing homes, there's not going to be
enough support for you. I don't know what the plan is there. We're just
going to set people out on the corners? Tell those stories. Tell them
real. Tell them from your family, tell them from your neighbors, tell
them from your cousins, but tell those stories. That's number one. It is
the best possible way to meet people where they are and get them to
understand the importance of this fight.
Second part: do not underestimate the power of organization. Have I
got some Indivisibles here? Power of organization. Any other groups that
we’ve got in here? How about unions? Have we got anybody that works
with unions? I don’t have to persuade you about the power of
organization, right?
Organization, but I mean this in every way you can magnify your
voice. You got a Facebook group? That's organization. You got a bunch of
friends you went to school with 22 years ago and you still keep in
touch? That's organization. And if some of them don't live in
Massachusetts, that's even better organization, because this is how we
keep moving these stories out. We're going to push these stories out the
door. And organizing keeps us going. So that's the second part. One
voice is loud, but two voices are more than twice as loud, so lots of
organization.
Third point: take care of yourself. We’ve got to do some self-care
and some care for each other. So there's a reason on the airplane that
they always do the little thing about adjust your own mask before trying
to help anyone else. You've got to keep breathing oxygen.
You've got to stay in this fight. And there are a lot of ways that we
can do this, each of us will find our own. I have a very large golden
retriever. He might be a little too large. Bruce, however, always just
describes him as he's large-boned. He does like spaghetti, though.
Patting a Golden Retriever is part of health.
I do a lot of self care in this, and I want to say this for all of
you, it also fits with the point about telling stories and organization.
If you've got more people in the fight with you. You've got more people
to keep you going when you're kind of in the down part of this to
remind you of the good parts.
We have a rule in our office, and that is when anything good happens –
and I get it, kind of few and far between sometimes – but when
something good happens, when we get a good court decision that comes
down, when we see an agency where somebody stands up and says, “Well,
I'm just going to have to fire me then, because I'm not leaving without
you.” We pass that around and we all stop and feel good about it for a
minute, reminding each other that we are in this fight together.
So three things I'm working on, three things I'm asking you to work
on, because now we get down to the bottom part of this, and that is:
this is hard. I never thought our nation would face something like this.
An unelected billionaire with a chainsaw is making decisions to get rid
of thousands of people that we count on every day to keep this country
going.
I never thought I would be at a time when a President of the United
States would be saying, “Yeah, recession, it worked out fine.” I never
thought I would be in a place where the Republicans in Congress would be
so spineless. But despite all of that, despite what we are up against,
despite it all, I am fundamentally optimistic and I am optimistic for
this reason. I know what it means to fight a righteous fight.
This is a righteous fight, and we are in this together. There is no
one I would rather fight alongside, but the good people of Lowell,
Massachusetts, of all of Massachusetts, and of the United States of
America.
