ATLANTA — Rep. Jack Kingston is coming under criticism for comments suggesting that poor students who are part of the nation’s school-lunch program should sweep cafeteria floors.
Kingston (R-Ga.) made the comments at a meeting of Jackson County Republicans on Saturday. He told the crowd that making children do janitorial work would help them learn there’s “no such thing as a free lunch.”
The Savannah representative is campaigning to become his party’s nominee for the Senate seat of Saxby Chambliss, who has announced his retirement.
Kingston spokesman Chris Crawford said in a statement to WXIA-TV that it’s sad that trying to have a “productive conversation” about instilling a strong work ethic in the next generation “so quickly devolves into the usual name-calling partisan hysteria.”