A Republican state senator in Minnesota said Tuesday he was voting against a bill to provide free breakfast and lunch for school students in part because he'd never encountered anyone in the state who was hungry.
“I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry,” Sen. Steve Drazkowski said in remarks on the floor of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul before voting on the legislation. "I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that says they don’t have access to enough food to eat.”
"Now, I should say that hunger is a relative term," the 58-year-old legislator added. "I had a cereal bar for breakfast. I guess I'm hungry now."
Drazkowski was first elected to the state Senate in 2022 after serving for about 15 years in the state House. He represents a district in the southeast part of the state, along the Mississippi River.
The bill's author, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Sen. Heather Gustafson, said it's estimated that almost 275,000 students get free and reduced price school meals in the state. She said another 18% of students who likely would qualify haven't submitted the necessary paperwork to do so.
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