HEADLINE: “Republican Suggests Students Work At McDonald's Instead Of Getting Free School Lunches.” [USA Today, 1/28/25]
McCormick Bemoaned The “Kids Who Stay At Home Instead Of Going To Work At Burger King” Who Then “Get Their Free Lunch Instead Of Going To Work.” According to USA Today, “Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), who supports the White House’s federal aid freeze possibly impacting school lunch programs, suggested in an interview that children get jobs, including working at McDonald’s, to pay for their lunches. [...] During the interview conducted before the federal judge’s decision, CNN anchor Pamela Brown mentioned that Head Start, which provides nutrition support to low-income children and families with food insecurities, is one of the federal programs that could be affected by the freeze. She then questioned McCormick on whether or not he would support cutting funding for free breakfast and lunches. ‘Before I was even 13 years old, I was picking berries in the field before (the) child labor laws that precluded that. I was a paper boy, and when I was in high school, I worked my entire way through,’ McCormick told Brown. ‘You’re telling me that kids who stay at home instead of going to work at Burger King (and) McDonald’s during the summer should stay at home and get their free lunch instead of going to work? I think we need to have a top-down review.’” [USA Today, 1/28/25]
McCormick Said That Kids Should Be “Thinking About Their Future Instead Of Thinking About How They’re Going To Sponge Out The Government.” According to USA Today, “The congressman then further elaborated on his child labor comments by saying, ‘How many people got their start in fast-food restaurants when they were kids, 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 makes them have value.’ He added that children should be ‘thinking about their future instead of thinking about how they’re going to sponge out the government when they don’t need to.’” [USA Today, 1/28/25]
[VIDEO] McCormick: “You’re Telling Me That Kids Who Stay At Home Instead Of Going To Work At Burger King Or Mcdonald's During The Summer Should Stay At Home And Get Their Free Lunch Instead Of Going To Work?” “So it's just about what pot of the money it comes out of. When you talk about school lunches… Hey, I worked my way through high school. I don’t know about you, but I worked since I was before I was even 13 years old. I was picking berries in the field before they had child labor laws that precluded that. I was a paper boy. And when I was in high school, I worked my entire way through. You're telling me that kids who stay at home instead of going to work at Burger King or McDonald's during the summer should stay at home and get their free lunch instead of going to work?” [CNN: Newsroom, 1/28/25]
[VIDEO] McCormick Claimed Free Lunch Kids Wanted To “Sponge Off The Government” And Called It “The Inner City Problem.” “Versus just giving a blanket rule that gives all kids lunches and high school who are capable of going out and actually getting a job and doing something that makes them have value, thinking about their future and still thinking about how they're going to sponge off the government when they don't need to. [...] We don't give them the ability to dig themselves out when we penalize them for actually working and actually keep them on welfare . That's what's been the inner city problem for a very long time.” [CNN: Newsroom, 1/28/25]
2023: 1,686,318 School Children In Georgia Received Free And Reduced-Price Lunches. According to The Current, “Georgia Governor Brian Kemp raised eyebrows earlier this year when he vetoed a bipartisan measure that would have funded free and reduced-price meals to K-12 students in the state. Earlier this month, however, the state school board filled that void by approving $6.3 million in federal funds to revive the initiative. The state agency’s decision means that approximately 1,686,318 school children around the state, including thousands in Coastal Georgia, will have access to meals when the school year starts this fall, extending the popular program that the U.S. Congress funded during the COVID-19 pandemic.” [Current, 6/26/23]
[VIDEO] McCormick Supported The “Freeze” In Future Spending On Free Lunches And Was Incredulous To The Idea “That Two-Thirds Of Georgians Need To Be Supported By A Federal Program.” “It's a freeze, these grants. That's not current spending. That's future spending. You can see right now in Georgia, 64%, almost two-thirds qualify for lunch aid. You can't tell me that that's a good use of money when two-thirds…I cannot believe that two-thirds of Georgians need to be supported by a federal program.” [OAN, 2/5/25]
[VIDEO] McCormick Understood “That You're Not Going To Have Five Year Olds Go To Work.” “Secondly, I was talking about summer programs, and they have had programs where they deliver lunches during the summer to kids who need it. Now, I get that you're not going to have five year olds go to work. That's not what I was talking about. Clearly said, that's not what I'm talking about.” [OAN, 2/5/25]
[VIDEO] McCormick Suggested That High-School-Age Kids Who Qualified For Free School Lunches Should “Walk Down The Street And Work At Taco Bell” Rather Than “Sitting At Home Waiting For Lunch To Be Delivered.” “When you have high school kids, the ability to go to work, not everybody does, but some have the ability to actually walk down the street and work at Taco Bell like my sons did, or work at a business that sets up party favors and does, you know, tables and chairs and stuff like that and actually make a living. Now they're learning a work ethic instead of sitting at home waiting for lunch to be delivered. It's a win-win for those students.” [OAN, 2/5/25]
[AUDIO] McCormick: “Instead Of Waiting At Home For That Lunch To Come During The Summer, Which Some People Do, You're Actually Learning That I Can Go Get Money To Go Actually Go On A Date Or Go Bowling Or Do Something Fun.” “But what I'm saying is, if we're encouraging kids and this is this is this is about generational poverty, if we're encouraging kids to stay home, when I was in high school about you guys, you tell me what you guys did in high school. But during the summers and I was talking about specifically summers, teenagers and in high school, if you have the ability to go down to the local McDonald's and work, guess what? You're learning a work ethic. Guess what? You're earning money. And instead of waiting at home for that lunch to come during the summer, which some people do, you're actually learning that I can go get money to go actually go on a date or go bowling or do something fun. And you actually learn that working results in some very positive things in life. And you get that work, you get in that habit, that mind frame that you know what the horror work.” [Politically Georgia, 2/24/2025]