The price of Republican priorities: Children going hungry

Republicans in Congress and the White House have prevented most of this year's spending bills from becoming law.

The federal budget is so huge and deals with numbers so large it takes a significant problem with it to make it small enough for the average person to care about. Such a situation is about to hit the very most vulnerable Kansans- those who rely on the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program (WIC) to purchase necessary foodstuffs. We aren't being dramatic when we say children could starve to death without WIC.

According to a story that ran in today's Topeka Capital-Journal, if President George W. Bush's budget is accepted, WIC in Kansas stands to suffer a $7 million shortfall, which would force 6,000 people off the rolls, and would require an additional 2,000 people be turned away in 2008.

Put a different way, if the President's budget is approved without any increases, an estimated 8,000 children in Kansas will go hungry.

This problem is the same problem we see across the board when it comes to domestic necessities, and Congresswoman Nancy Boyda hits the nail on the head:

"This isn't just about WIC. This is about Head Start, veteran's funding, social security, everything.

"The bottom line is, the president has said he will veto any bill that increases spending. The Democrats have tried to compromise, compromise, compromise, and there have been no compromises with this White House."

First SCHIP, now WIC. The Republicans screamed and yelled the Democrats were using children during the SCHIP debate, saying they were trying to make the Republican Party look cruel and like it didn't care about the real hardship their policies were putting on people.

The obvious contempt the Republicans in Congress and the White House have for the poor is stunning. We don't need to use anything to make that point.

(Photo from, and more information available at kdheks.org)