Which party protects children?

I am writing in response to a big red and white banner in a prominent downtown Libby window. It reads: Protect our children, vote Republican.

It kind of hit me the wrong way, so I checked on some proposed laws in the 2021 Montana legislative session that would have gone a long way toward protecting our children.

Mental health

HB 369 would have made 5% of the funds already generated by taxes on alcohol purchases available as grants to smaller Montana school districts like the ones in Lincoln County. These grants would have made it possible for these districts to participate in a school-based mental health promotion and wellness program that is being used in larger school districts that can afford it. This program is designed to “build resiliency in youth and lead to reductions in serious mental illness, chemical dependency, and suicidality.” It has been “cited as effective by peer-reviewed research or literature.”

HB 369 passed the House Human Services Committee 17-2. It failed on the Republican-controlled House floor by 49-51.

School lunch

HB 69 would have reimbursed school districts for the funds they would have collected from low-income families as co-payments for reduced-fee breakfasts and lunches their children ate at school. Thus, low-income families that didn’t qualify for free meals would not have had to come up with money before their children could have school-provided meals. And, it would have eliminated the administrative costs for the school districts.

Consideration of HB 69 was requested by the Legislative Education Interim Committee. However, it failed in the full Education Committee which has a majority of Republicans. It did not come up for a vote on the House floor.

Abuse or neglect

HB 274, the Family Preservation Act, would have helped families who were at risk of having children removed from the home because of child abuse or neglect. It was designed to prevent the added trauma for children of being separated from their families while also protecting them from potential abuse or neglect.

HB 274 also died in the Republican-controlled Human Services Committee without coming to the House floor for a vote.

That’s just three bills in the Montana Legislature. At the federal level the first things that come to my mind are expanded child tax credit and free school lunches for all children. They significantly contributed to reducing child poverty and hunger while in force.

Republicans opposed the continuation of both measures.

Now, please tell me how voting Republican protected our children in these important ways.

— Donna Martin, Libby