LD 1353 is entitled An Act To Reduce Student Hunger and this bill did pass although the governor vetoed it. The Maine House and Senate both overrode the veto. The Maine House, in which I serve, was down many members and so only 92 votes were needed to over-ride and it got 92.

Who could be against feeding children? I dare say no one is against it, but, as always, different people see different avenues to work the problem. Should we give someone a fish or teach them to fish? This bill sought (and now mandates) that all school systems provide a summer program that would feed hungry children. I believe in the discussion I may have been the only person that expressed interest in why Maine children are hungry. This mandated program would mean a facility, food, staffing and other such efforts would have to be created including administration of the program. Limited education funding would need to be used to feed kids. I’m still wondering why Maine kids are hungry?

I am just old enough to remember when society exerted enough pressure on people to make most do the right thing. We didn’t reward bad behavior. I also remember when communities, neighbors and churches helped out a struggling neighbor. Government has pushed that system aside. Now, I need to be very clear, there are people (for whatever reason) who need and deserve our help. My belief in limited government certainly includes helping people who really need it. As the list of 3,000 Mainers most in need of health-care services (and not getting them) suggests, we do not do a great job helping the most needy Mainers. Yet a lot is spent in Maine, somewhere, on these issues? So our schools, which we have decided to make daycares, restaurants, therapists, social workers, transportation systems, and yes, even parents, will now have another burden. When you complain about your kid’s education think about what we have asked educators to do.

So, again, why are Maine kids hungry?

I asked the question on the House floor during debate on feeding hungry Maine kids. I called this bill a Band-aid, one which would simply see us coming back to the well for more funding in two years. Are you, the reader surprised government does not ask why a problem exists? It would seem to me that if we do not ask that simple question, we are sure to pay more money and likely to not solve the problem.

I read recently that since the President Johnson’s “War on Poverty” of about 1965, the percentage of people in poverty has actually gone up. Why is that? The answer from many to my question of why was how heartless I must be.

So as someone in the minority body looking up at the powers that be, I wonder are we really trying to solve this problem or simply not sure what to do and feeling the need to just do something? Why wouldn’t we want to step back and figure out what has changed in our society, the greatest country ever, that would suggest we have so many hungry children. To you the reader or anyone else out there, can you tell me why Maine kids are hungry?

Rep. Mike McClellan represents District 103 (Raymond, Frye Island, parts of Poland and Standish).