Senator claims there are no hungry people in his state

Abill that will allow children across the state of Minnesota to get free lunches passed recently — no thanks to Republican Sen. Steve Drazkowski.

The senator voted against the bill, saying he’s never met a hungry person in his state. Yes, you read that correctly.

“I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry,” he said Tuesday on the Senate floor in St. Paul, before he voted against the legislation. “I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that says they don’t have access to enough food to eat.”

However, according to a news report, a fact sheet from anti-hunger groups that supported the bill claims that one in six Minnesota children are food insecure.

One member, Sen. Heather Gustafson, of the Democratic-Farm- er-Labor party was on the Senate floor and said that being hungry makes learning almost impossible, then followed that statement with “let’s feed the kids,” according to the news report.

Following Gustafson’s comment, Drazkowski said that hunger is a relative term.

“I had a cereal bar for breakfast,” he said. “I guess I’m hungry now.”

Despite his statement about not ever having met a hungry child in Minnesota, the county he represents, Wabasha County, had more than 8% of children living in poverty in 2021, according to the news report. That was up from about 7% in 2020, according to the Federal Reserve of Economic Data.

We aren’t sure whether Drazkowski goes out and interacts with those in his community, but given the fact that 8% of children in his county were living in poverty a couple years ago, it seems indicative that some of those children likely go hungry. How could he not acknowledge that?

Apparently he also does not realize that sometimes a school lunch is the only meal a child gets. If they cannot afford to purchase those meals, then it’s possible that they could go hungry because there is no food at home — or very little food at home.

It’s unconscionable to imagine that a politician who is supposed to represent his constituents would subscribe to that sort of thinking.