Letter: Baby, the Bathwater

“Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” is an old idiom originating in sixteenth century Germany. The cliché has such a simple meaning yet our government leaders can’t seem to grasp the valuable message, especially Republicans in the current General Assembly in Nashville.

The Tennessee budget includes education, infrastructure, business matters, health and social services and public safety. With inflation and grocery prices at an all time high, Republicans in the Tennessee House have selected this as the best time to cut SNAP, school lunch programs, summer lunch programs, HSMFA and HRAC budgets. Unbelievable, right?

Don’t let me lose you with these statistics; they’re important: over 831,000 Tennesseans currently receive some assistance. Fifty percent have children, thirty five percent have seniors and over fifty percent have someone disabled in the household. Obviously, some of the 310,000 households have a combination of these dependents. The average assistance per day per individual is a dismal $5.28 per day. Thirty thousand Tennessee vets currently need assistance as well.

Stay with me: over one-half million kids are living in single parent homes in Tennessee or thirty seven percent of all children in our state. Over eighty percent are single moms, many of which have never had instructions in creating a family budget, much less preventive auto maintenance. Of all the proposed budget cuts, it will be these families that will realize the impact immediately. The current proposal allows $1.67 per meal per person. I double-dog-dare our legislators to make that budget work in their homes for one month; any takers?

Governor Lee declined $3 million in federal assistance for summer lunch programs citing it was “too costly to administer”, which confuses me. I thought that’s what our government officials did...administrate. Go figure. The Governor made this “grand alternative”- fifteen lower-income counties would be given a one-time gift of $120 per child. First, the obvious- this means 85 counties would receive nothing for the summer lunch program. Next, the grant amounts to $6 per day per child. (Triple-dog-dare ya to feed a child on that budget). This amounts to only twenty-five thousand children in the entire State receiving assistance this summer.

It’s worth noting that our legislators and Governor missed the deadline for qualifying for $5 million in “Sun Bucks” from federal assistance programs last year. Busy, I guess…….

Representative Zachary of Knoxville is the real guard-dog for fraud in the SNAP program, or so he claims. So he proposed HB 1236 to outlaw SNAP benefits from purchasing soda or processed foods, despite the fact that many sodas are sugar-free. Somehow, I don’t think that’s our greatest concern right now. The concern is that forty-five percent of Tennessee kids depend on free school lunches. That number is going to be significantly reduced if Tennessee Republicans proceed with these budget cuts. Folks, listen to me: that is the only meal some of these kids get all day. They are required to be in school all day; can we not at least feed them?? God help us if that is the primary and initial focus of budget cuts!!

I noticed the makeup of the House in Nashville is reflective of a cross section of our state: some are retired from various occupations, several are business people (that know that we must indeed cut waste, as it can make the difference of a business surviving, but you must prioritize your cuts). Some are farmers that can rely on government subsidies. There are a few with social backgrounds & a couple of pastors, teachers, bankers and several attorneys. Now this is going to smart, but there are some that I can tell by looking- the last time they were concerned about an actual budget was wondering if dad was going to pay their fraternity dues in grad school.

Now, I ask you to do your own research; don’t dare take my word for it. Do the work, ask yourself if this is the best place and time to literally take food from the mouths of children, seniors, and vets. Or are there other options available. Call your rep TODAY!

Tony N. Boyd
Henry, TN