Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) and Glenn Grothman (R-WI) introduced the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids' Educational (W.O.K.E.) Meals Act to block President Biden's U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from stripping federal funding from recipients of the National School Lunch Program for refusing to comply with radical transgender ideology expansions.
Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National School Lunch Program fed nearly 30 million children every school day. Now, this program serves approximately 100,000 public and private schools, including all of Tennessee's public schools.
Last month, the USDA announced an intention to implement an expanded interpretation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The new interpretation of this long-standing statute could potentially strip federal funding for meals for K-12 students from schools that do not let transgender students use preferred bathrooms or play on preferred sports teams.
"Punishing schools for failing to adopt radical transgender ideology is wrong. Ripping school lunches from low-income students because their schools disallow biological males to enter girl's restrooms and compete in girl's sports is nothing short of disgraceful. The Biden Administration continues to abuse executive privilege to force Americans into compliance with an extreme agenda. Our bill protects students so they are not hungry at school,” said Congresswoman Harshbarger.
“Comply with radical transgender ideology or leave low-income students without meals. That is the choice President Biden’s USDA is setting up for schools,” said Congressman Grothman. “This mandate from the Administration is a way to strongarm schools into falling in line with the ‘woke’ left’s worldview and it is disgraceful. If a school, parent, student, or teacher believes that there are biological differences between males and females, too bad, because their federal funding may be cut off if they don’t obey this mandate. This is why you should never want new federal programs. Nobody dreamed that some day school lunches would be used as leverage to force school districts to do what the transgender lobby wants. Nevertheless, the Biden Administration’s new rule opens the door to letting children go hungry if schools do not adhere to his extreme gender ideology. By passing the Stop WOKE Meals Act, we can eliminate this ridiculous choice schools may face and ensure our kids keep receiving the school meals they’ve been promised."
Original source can be found here.
