The North Dakota Senate has passed a bill to give more members free food – after killing a proposal to boost free lunches for hungry school children.
On Thursday, the GOP-led chamber voted 26-21 to allow state employees to collect up to $45 a day to pay for meals while traveling in North Dakota, up from the current $35. The bill, which will cost $1 million in taxpayer money over the next two years, now heads to the desk of Gov. Doug Burgum (R) to be signed into law.
But less than two weeks ago, the Senate rejected a separate bill that would have provided $6 million over the next two years to provide free school lunches to all K-12 students living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. It would expand a federal program that already provides meals to students living below 130% of the poverty level.
The bill failed by one vote.
Notably, 13 Republicans voted against the school meal proposal while also supporting reimbursement for state employees. No Democrat is the same.
“I think today’s voters are really independent,” Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan (D) said Thursday, according to regional outlet The Forum. “How can we choose for ourselves if we can’t choose for our children?”
One of the 13 GOP lawmakers, Assistant Republican Majority Leader Jerry Klein, said he could not see “any correlation” between the two bills, the Forum reported.
“Yes, I can understand that the children are hungry, but is it really a school problem? Is it a North Dakota state problem? asked Wobbema.
“It’s really a problem of parents who are careless with their children, if their children choose to eat first.”