A.G. Gancarski
Make America Great Again? That’s old news.
For Florida’s senior Senator, the new move is MAAA: Make America Active Again.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is introducing legislation that would compel elementary schools in the federal school lunch program to require students to exercise in physical education classes for at least 150 minutes a week.
“As public health outcomes increasingly trend in the wrong direction, it is obvious that the elimination of recess and physical education from public school has been a tragic mistake,” Rubio said.
“The habits our public schools instill in our children will carry forward for the rest of their lives, and it should be a priority to promote health and wellness. Every elementary school student in Florida is guaranteed daily recess or PE. With the Make America Active Again Act, we will ensure every child in the United States has the opportunity to participate in physical activity during the school day.”
Rubio’s Office notes that “only nine states require daily recess for elementary school students,” while “many public schools across the U.S. have reduced or completely eliminated opportunities for students to engage in physical activity.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that roughly 1 in 5 U.S. children and adolescents suffer from obesity, though the pandemic actually increased that proportion temporarily. This means their Body Mass Index, or BMI, is over 30. To put that in perspective, the ideal range is from 18.5 to 24.9.
Florida students actually face greater weight challenges than the average American. Recent estimates are that 1 in 3 students are obese or simply overweight.
6 comments
Bobblehead Kammy
September 26, 2024 at 12:34 pm
Great idea Marco.
MH/Duuuval
September 26, 2024 at 5:36 pm
Representative Chip Roy, the far-right Texas Republican and reigning king of the fervid floor speech:
“I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing, one, that I can go campaign on and say we did. One!” He pressed someone — anyone! — to “come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done.”
As they say In Tejas: Nada, hombre, nada!
Frankie M.
September 26, 2024 at 1:09 pm
Mandatory fun…all the exercise & recess in the world won’t make a bit of difference until they address diet & school meals. Maybe get them on the AG vegan plan? He loves to tell me about it. Just ask him.
Ocean Joe
September 26, 2024 at 1:36 pm
When Michele Obama tried to make school lunches healthy they went nuts. They still consider ketchup a vegetable.
MH/Duuuval
September 26, 2024 at 9:17 pm
Yep, but the ACA rolls on:
Today the Treasury Department released statistics showing that 4.2 million small business owners have coverage through the ACA. Losing that protection would impact 618,590 small business owners in Florida, 450,010 in California, 423,790 in Texas, and 168,070 in Georgia.
Floridians, including small business, know a good thing.
MH/Duuuval
September 27, 2024 at 10:40 am
And, the highest enrollment for ACA among the citizenry is in Florida, no thanks to the MAGA element who conceptualize providing similar benefits at less cost — in order to provide larger tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations.
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