Cutting child hunger in half.

I'm more proud of the American Rescue Plan, our COVID-19 stimulus and relief legislation, than just about anything Congress has done in a long time.

I'm sure you've heard a lot about the direct payments for struggling families, or the vaccine infrastructure that the Rescue Plan's stabilizing — but I want to talk today about exactly one group: children.

Because, in one of the hardest times our country has ever seen, the American Rescue Plan takes an absolutely massive step toward eliminating child poverty.

We cut it in half. In half.

And to follow the ARP, the Biden administration also guaranteed universal access to free school lunches in the summer, a time when struggling families with school-age children need all the help they can get.

If anyone tries to claim that this stuff isn't necessary, or isn't important ask them a question: do they think it's wrong to do everything we can to address poverty and child hunger in America? Seriously. Ask them. Especially right now, when we have the power to do something about it.

Thanks to horrific mismanagement by the former Trump administration, we had quite an awful mess on our hands to start 2021. Not only was COVID-19 out-of-control, but the side effects of a battered economy (including child hunger) were pounding families from coast to coast.

So Democrats did something. Because what's the job of the government if not to help lift people out of the worst poverty, to give them the tools to survive and thrive?

If anyone tries to tell me that, while simultaneously insisting that bailouts and handouts for the ultra-wealthy are necessary. Well, let's just say I politely disagree.

PS. The work doesn't stop here. Because, even with this massive accomplishment, hunger is still a threat to so many families across Massachusetts. So, if you are able, please dig deep and chip in to support food banks in Central and Western Massachusetts.