 A group of your colleagues took to the floor. They had a special order on Direct TV's de-platforming of Newsmax. And I wanted to ask you, sir, if the House would contemplate hearings on that. You know, I had discussions with a couple members now, because it's very concerning to me now. Newsmax isn't the first one, OAN as well. And I think America should be able to have a choice. And the news they are able to get, a choice in being able to see it. I would hate to see that someone's being kicked off simply because they provide something conservative. So I think it is a place that we should look at. You just heard from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who pledged to look into Direct TV's decision to drop Newsmax. I mean, I'm just, as an American, so proud to know that this is a priority of our Republican-controlled House of Representatives. But another priority that I'm sure that you're going to love to hear about is this. As Lauren Bobert explains, today the House will vote to condemn socialism. Sure will be interesting to see how many Democrats are willing to stick by this deadly ideology on the record. And unsurprisingly, it passed overwhelmingly with 109 Democrats supporting this measure. So I just, I've got to take a second to applaud Congress here. I'm so happy and relieved to know that there's bipartisan support for things that really matter, like voting to condemn socialism as the body count for capitalism continues to increase day after day after day. But while Congress is focusing on these things, here's what's happening around the country. Eleanor J. Bader explained in an eye-opening piece for a truth out that one in eight children are going hungry. And this comes after Congress chose to do nothing after the pandemic era school lunch program has expired. So children in the richest country on earth may be going hungry, but I'm sure that they'll take comfort knowing that their government thinks socialism is bad. And I'm sure that, you know, the thought that Kevin McCarthy is going to be looking into why Direct TV dropped Newsmax is going to soothe the hunger pains that they're feeling. Now, back in October of 2022, NBC News spoke with a senior in high school who talked about the way that this affects him not having free school lunches anymore. There's a point where you get used to being hungry, he said. On days that he doesn't eat lunch, he uses change he finds around his house and purchases a small bag of chips from a nearby gas station convenience store after school instead. He tries to ignore his hunger at school on those days. I will be honest, Marshall said, sometimes it does get a bit distracting in class. Well, that's too bad, Marshall, but did you know that our government disapproves of socialism? I'm sure that that matters more to you than you feeding yourself. Now, I'm glad that Marshall brought up the fact that it's kind of distracting when you're so hungry, like it's hard to concentrate on your school studies, because according to a study conducted by the Institute of Labor Economics, hunger and malnourishment can adversely affect students' performance by lowering their effort and cognition during school hours. So hunger leads to lower performance, which in turn leads to poor grades, which subsequently leads to less opportunities if you don't do as well in school. And some students just probably choose to not eat, because if they do, they're going to put an unnecessary burden on their on their families. So they just choose to starve instead. And I'm, of course, referring to the phenomenon known as school lunch debt. And for international viewers, yes, that is a thing here in the United States. Again, the richest country on the planet. Kids can actually go into debt by not paying for their school lunches. A 2023 school nutrition report found that the total accumulated school lunch debt in the United States surpasses $19 million, with debts varying greatly from district to district. And the solution to this late stage capitalist phenomenon would be free school lunches for every single child. There'd be no debts. Now, there are school lunch programs in place that do feed the kids who are are poor enough to qualify, right? But these programs are oftentimes means tested. They're overly complicated and parents have to meet strict eligibility requirements in order to get their children these free school lunches. Bader explained in truth out, as a result, we now have a patchwork with individual states determining school meal policy for the students who are enrolled in their schools. California, Colorado and Maine, along with a handful of cities, including Boston, Chicago and New York, have opted to provide universal free meals to all. But the remaining 47 states and most cities have, for the most part, reverted to a means tested system in which caregivers have to complete an application to determine their child's eligibility for meals subsidies. This put students in one of three categories, full pairs, partial pairs and non pairs. We've heard about families that are over the income eligibility limit between 130 and 185% of the federal poverty guidelines, a maximum of 33,000 plus for a household of two or 51,000 plus for a household of four, but are still struggling to pay their bills. Diane Pratt-Hevener, director of media relations at the School Nutrition Association, told truth out, the application only takes income into account. So if you've had a health crisis that left you with outstanding bills or have been hit with a huge rent increase, these expenses are not factored in. And I want to take some time to focus on that last sentence there because it really explains how means testing programs are inferior to universal programs. Because even though a family might technically make too much to qualify for free meals for their child, income alone isn't sufficient enough to determine whether or not a family needs free school meals. And there's a couple of anecdotes from that NBC article that we read earlier that explain why this is the case. Quote, I've cried with a lot of families said Angie Richie, nutrition services supervisor, a Roseville area schools in Minnesota. I had to tell one family of six that they were $33 over. A dozen school nutrition directors from districts large and small, urban and rural, wealthy and low income told NBC News they have had to reject applications from a mother whose insulin price rose significantly, a father who lost his job during the pandemic and has only found part-time work since, and a mother of five whose only income is disability payments because she has cancer among others. So this is why basing eligibility on income alone leads to these arbitrary outcomes because there are other things that these families are dealing with. This is why universality of these programs is always preferable to means tested programs because means testing programs leaves people out and also it creates social stigma. And to the Biden administration's credit, they did want to make the school lunch program put in place during the pandemic permanent, but there's a difference between wanting something and actively fighting to make that a reality. And the Biden administration, they just failed catastrophically in this regard. They didn't try hard enough at all. I would argue that they really didn't even make the case. How many people before the latest school term took place, how many people did you hear talking about this? How many media outlets talked about this? How many Democrats tried to raise the salience of this issue? So they kind of just gave up, right? And I've got to remind you that this is the richest country on the planet. It doesn't have to be this way. Starving kids is a policy choice, okay? Unhoused people sleeping on the streets, that is a policy choice. Now going back to Lauren Boebert's tweet, I think that former congressional candidate, Anthony Clark, had the best response. He wrote, while they vote to condemn socialism, people are having to choose between buying groceries or keeping the lights on. And he is 1,000% correct here. We have a government that is failing to meet even the most basic material needs for its citizens. But while people starve and sleep on the streets, what do they do? They focus on condemning socialism and looking into why direct TV is no longer running Newsmax. It's just genuinely clownish. Our country is cartoonishly evil. And as an American, I'm embarrassed because again, I've got to remind everyone, this is the richest country on the planet. All of these problems can be easily solved if we had a Congress that cared. If we had any party that was looking out for us, but that's just not the reality. We have one party that is fascistic and wants to make your lives worse. And then we have another party that half of which they're captured by large multinational corporations and half is really charitable. I'd say 90% of Democrats are captured by large multinational corporations and don't care about working class people. And the other 10%, the progressives, they are always silent and complicit as their party goes along with whatever the Republican party's economic agenda is. It's just such a sad state of affairs and I can't help but think that our country is just a catastrophic failure. When you see one in eight children starving in this country, that is a failure on government and it's a failure by choice. Remember that.