Empathy

Well, the new Republican majority in the Colorado statehouse seems quite serious about reining in spending. Their first target? School breakfasts for kids.

Poor children who eat breakfast at school for free will have to pay 30 cents a meal for the last few months of this school year after Republicans on the legislature's Joint Budget Committee refused to provide additional funding for the growing program.

Yes, the budget hole is huge, but that's a pretty harsh cut. I wonder if legislators understand that many poor Coloradans depend on this and other programs through no fault of their own.

"As a family guy myself with children and grandchildren, I take a very strong responsibility to earn money to feed my own family," said Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, who voted against the request.

Ah, that would be a no. Apparently, according to Lambert, those who lack sufficient money to feed their kids breakfast are not unfortunate so much as irresponsible.

Via Colorado Pols, the Aurora Sentinel provides some helpful perspective:

Lambert earns money the old fashioned way: from your tax dollars. He was a lifetime member of the military, now on pension, and he now collects tax dollars as a state lawmaker.