Biden is Stealing States’ Lunch Money
We all know that the Biden administration has tried to force the radical LGBT agenda in various ways, but they have reached a new low by targeting hungry kids. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) devised a plan last year to tie school lunch funding to adopting the extremist gender ideology.
One of the first actions that President Joe Biden took as President was to issue his Executive Order on Preventing and Combatting Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. Biden’s EO forced all federal government agencies to find ways to promote the LGBT agenda. Since then, every agency has followed suit by using the Supreme Court’s expansion of “sex discrimination” to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
In May 2022, the USDA issued a memo with their intentions to use the Bostock v. Clayton County decision to redefine the word “sex” to include gender identity throughout the Department. On the same day, they published guidance to force every entity receiving federal funds from the USDA, including schools, to update their non-discrimination policies in the same way. The USDA’s statement explained:
…state and local agencies, program operators and sponsors that receive funds from FNS must investigate allegations of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Those organizations must also update their non-discrimination policies and signage to include prohibitions against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Their statement also alludes to the Title IX program which affects school bathroom policies. The USDA could consider a school maintaining separate bathrooms for biological girls and boys as a “barrier” to receiving food assistance. They instead prefer young girls to be forced to share restrooms and locker rooms with males in the name of “non-discrimination”. States and schools that do not adopt these policies will be punished by not receiving school lunch funding.
The hypocrisy is glaring. The FNS’s mission statement claims to “reduce hunger” and provide children “access to food.” Additionally, since the 1980s, the USDA has held that schools should not deny students meals based on disciplinary actions.
Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) and 19 colleagues find this change hard to digest! He introduced a resolution (S.J.Res. 42) to disapprove of the new USDA guidance. Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress can overturn federal regulations and rules as part of its duty to ensure checks and balances on the Executive Branch. Sen. Marshall said in a press release:
This administration is weaponizing funding for school lunch programs in an effort to force public schools to embrace Joe Biden’s transgender agenda. The USDA has NO authority to force our children to adhere to woke mandates such as requiring biological boys to be given access to girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms or allow biological boys to compete against biological girls in girls’ sports. My message with this CRA is clear: Don’t hold children’s lunch hostage in pursuit of your woke agenda.
You can encourage your Senators to vote in favor of Sen. Marshall’s bill by visiting our website here.
States are taking a stand as well. Twenty-two state Attorneys General filed a lawsuit against the USDA challenging the USDA’s actions. They are claiming that the guidance misinterprets the Bostock v. Clayton ruling which the Court said only pertains to employment. They also are condemning the USDA for not following the proper procedures of providing adequate notice or a public comment period.
Eagle Forum is hopeful that through grassroots, state, and federal efforts, the USDA will have to rescind its guidance. It’s time to tell the Biden administration to stop pushing this extreme agenda on our children!
