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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Katrina vanden Heuvel

The US should join other nations in giving public schoolkids free breakfast and lunch

Four young schoolchildren eating in a cafeteria
‘For a nation that prides itself on economic mobility, food security has actually decreased in the US since 2021.’ Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

Children with stamped wrists. Debt collectors hounding parents. Untouched food thrown away while an adult says: “You have no money.” In a dystopian thriller, these scenes might be dismissed as on-the-nose. But they’re all real humiliations inflicted over unpaid accounts in US public school cafeterias.

Contrast these chilling scenes with a different one: a proud, middle-aged former teacher in a suit, surrounded by beaming schoolchildren, signing into law a program that will feed every student in his state. The most adorable bill-signing in US history – and a vision for how simple it could be to improve our kids’ lives – came courtesy of Tim Walz.

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