Roger Marshall (R-KS) doesn't want to be seen as just another conservative Republican in Congress. He lusts after the kind of notoriety-- and access to grassroots fundraising-- that Republicans bless crackpot extremists like Marjorie Traitor Greene (Q-GA), Rand Paul (R-KY), Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (Q-CO) with. Marshall, once a respectable conservative doctor, now a psychotic conspiracy nut, was elected to the House in 2016, defeating Tim Huelskamp, the kind crackpot extremist he now uses as a role model, in a primary. He was elected to the Senate 2020 and his very first vote was to join extremist kooks Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS) in a bid to overturn the election. It failed 93-6, although Marshall tried again the next day, this time failing 92-7, having been abandoned by Kennedy but joined by Rick Scott (R-FL) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY).
Since getting into the Senate, Marshall has always taken the most extreme right position. And this morning, Politico reported that he's cooking up another ugly publicity stunt, this one against LGBTQ students. And he's threatening to blow up a "bipartisan deal to extend school meals funding because of a Biden administration policy banning discrimination against LGBTQ students who participate in lunch programs that receive the money."
Funding runs out in a week, which would trigger "a hunger cliff" for millions of children-- and probably harm Kansas farmers as well. "[A]ny one senator can object and block the expedited effort, requiring a recorded floor vote and eating up precious time." Marshall wants that senator to be himself. Because the Agriculture Department bans discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community in any nutritional program-- like school lunches-- that receive federal funds, the viciously homophobic Rogers says he may screw up the $3 billion deal to extend the program.
Marshall was among a handful of Senate Republicans who sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office last week objecting to the USDA nutrition guidance, which has also prompted a backlash from conservative media and key national Republicans. Likely 2024 presidential contender and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis argued the Biden administration was “trying to deny school lunch programs for states that don’t do transgender ideology in the schools.”
Republicans are particularly concerned with language in the USDA guidance that says programs that receive federal nutrition money need to state their policies for combating anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
Marshall said in the interview he had not decided about whether to go through with the objection. But he claimed the administration was trying “to use the school lunch issue to gain leverage over [schools’ broader LGBTQ policies].”
“I’m just afraid that schools in Kansas won’t have school lunches because of this administration’s radical view on transgender issues,” Marshall said. “And I’m afraid that they’re going to raid the school lunch program over that issue.”
The USDA guidance, however, is only aimed at programs that receive federal nutrition money, not other aspects of school policy that may affect LGBTQ students. A USDA official emphasized that the administration wouldn’t pull funding from a school lunch program just because the state has restrictive laws around sports or bathroom access for transgender kids, nor because a school lacks an LGBTQ policy. Rather, individuals could only file complaints if they’ve been discriminated against by the specific school lunch program based on gender identity-- for example, if they were denied food because they were transgender.
A handful of other Republican senators also have yet to sign off on holds over allowing the school meals funding deal to be the expedited measure, according to three Republican Senate aides, though not over the LGBTQ guidance. That list includes Sens. Mike Braun of Indiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Paul frequently holds up efforts to expedite funding bills.
A spokesperson for Paul said his office is still reviewing the bill, but wouldn’t say if he ultimately plans to object. Braun wanted to make sure he had time to read the bill but likely doesn’t have any major issues with the text, according to his spokesperson.
The top Republican shepherding the school meals funding, Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, said he hadn’t talked with any Republican who was committed to objecting to the measure, but said he would look into Marshall’s concerns. Asked if he was angling for something from the administration in return for allowing the measure to pass, Marshall replied: “No. I don’t have any deal cooking.”
“I don’t know if we’ll have any objections or not,” Boozman said in an interview. “But I think that whatever it is, it’s things that we can work through and just explain what we’re trying to do.”
Anti-hunger advocates say the school meal funding held off the worst of the expected rise in childhood food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic. And they warn that the loss of the funding beginning in July would abruptly increase hunger for millions of children.
Maebe A Girl is a Los Angeles trans person and a respected progressive political leader who handily beat 4 Republicans, a Green and another Democrat to make it into the general election in CA-30. This afternoon, She told me that she's "disgusted at the continuous scapegoating of trans people in the political arena. Politicians such as Ron DeSantis who claim the Biden administration is 'trying to deny school lunch programs for states that don’t do transgender ideology in the schools' are fueling further hate for transgender people who are already at the mercy of bigoted state governments. If states do not adhere to federal anti-discrimination policies and cause low-income students to lose free meal programs, it will be no one’s fault but the GOP politicians who refuse to represent their trans constituents. Once again, trans people lose. They can try to erase us, outlaw us, and scapegoat us, but trans people aren’t going anywhere. We will continue to get louder and prouder, and we refuse to be held responsible for bigoted policies that harm trans youth and low-income youth and families."
thank the money gawds that the intrepid democraps shall rise to the defense of and codify the civil rights of the LGBTQ crowd along with everyone else.
oh wait...
well, elect democraps anyway. they're worthless... but whatever.