Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) suggested kids who participate in school lunch programs “sponge off the government.”
“How many people got their start in fast food restaurants when they were kids?” McCormick told CNN’s Pamela Brown. “Versus just giving a blanket rule that gives all kids lunches in high school, who are capable of going out and actually getting a job and doing something that actually makes them have value.”
McCormick, who spoke to CNN on Tuesday from Doral, Florida, was asked if he supports President Donald Trump’s freeze on all federal grants, including childhood cancer research, school lunch programs, and Head Start, a federally funded program that provides preschool for low-income children.
“When you talk about school lunches, hey, I worked my way through high school,” McCormick said. “I don’t know about you, but I worked before I was even 13 years old. I was picking berries in the field before child labor laws that precluded that.”
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When Brown pushed back, he said “of course” not all children are able to work or of working age. But he said the freeze “gives us a chance” to see “where the money is really being spent,” adding that there needs to be a “top-down review” of federal spending, including school lunches.
McCormick also pivoted on Brown’s point that Trump has paused federal grants for childhood cancer research, pointing out that Trump proposed a $500 billion project on AI, which could help detect cancer.