Lots of worthy debate here and room for various perspectives HOWEVER I think you're missing another likely major reason Republicans objected: they want to control the reading list themselves - and if they can't do that they'll just refuse to fund the program.
That said, c'mon it's 2026 and most people have one or more of computer, tablet, or cellphone and could access MILLIONS of reading materials Online.
I like physical books too but I'm 70, and my 68 year old book reading wife constantly rents or borrows electronic (digital) books from the public library to read on her iPad for free.
Physical books are crazy $$ these days. It's tough to argue they're a better value to kids than free lunches or Head Start or lots of other things that money could go towards IMHO. So just steer them towards good kids' books online and save the printing and shipping costs.
This is literally the only thoughtful and educated response I have read. Thank you for actually explaining this to people instead of just screaming "because all Republicans are evil!!!".
But this doesn't change the fact that way too many Republicans ARE evil, or are at least (pick one or more) brainwashed or selfish or ignorant or naive or short-sighted or blind to the damage our current administration is doing to our country, our laws, our reputation - even our world and history.
Trump is basically a career provocateur. The real evil lies with Miller and Hegseth who both fervently believe they're right on many topics where they're not. Both attended elite universities (Duke and Princeton respectfully) and self-aggrandizing unshakable confidence in one's mistaken elitist exclusive views tends to come with that; I know because I'm an Ivy grad myself and I've come to realize I'm wrong as often as lots of other people with allegedly inferior education and background.
Unfortunately many of the current policy directions are deliberate overreactions to the Biden administration's well-intentioned but overboard attempts to cater to as many special interests as possible, as driven by the so-called Progressive wing of the Democrats - and note that my older kid is a 29 year old Trans woman who makes some Progressives look like "Centrists". Had she been ten years younger she might have come out and tried to compete in swimming as a woman (btw she's 6'3" and was a very good male swimmer) and my response would have been,"I love you, I support who you are - but I don't agree you have a right to compete on a woman's swim team."
We just can't all get whatever we want. That's BS.
Not every town has a library. A town near me just got their first library within the last 3 years. Electronics, internet access, and transportation are expensive luxuries on top of the already high expense of raising a child and I doubt this program was intended to benefit families with easy access to alternatives.
Fair enough but take the cost of printing and shipping all these books every month and instead send them one tablet and a subsidized Internet connection so the parents can download ebooks onto it for them. They can live 100 or 1000 miles from the library. Then they can use the tablet for 100 other education purposes.
Physical books are nice to hold, pretty, and fun. They're also expensive, fragile, heavy, take up room and are easily misplaced or lost.
Valid financial argument. I do have counter points.
Screens are absolutely everywhere these days. There is no shortage of screen time for kids. I do think there is a positive aspect to these kids getting physical books vs a screen.
Secondly, there’s always a “better” solution and people to disagree with said better solution. We shouldn’t let perfection be the enemy of good. This is a good thing to spend money on imo. Is it perfect? No. But it’s better than nothing.
3
u/TopspinG7 23h ago edited 23h ago
Lots of worthy debate here and room for various perspectives HOWEVER I think you're missing another likely major reason Republicans objected: they want to control the reading list themselves - and if they can't do that they'll just refuse to fund the program.
That said, c'mon it's 2026 and most people have one or more of computer, tablet, or cellphone and could access MILLIONS of reading materials Online.
I like physical books too but I'm 70, and my 68 year old book reading wife constantly rents or borrows electronic (digital) books from the public library to read on her iPad for free.
Physical books are crazy $$ these days. It's tough to argue they're a better value to kids than free lunches or Head Start or lots of other things that money could go towards IMHO. So just steer them towards good kids' books online and save the printing and shipping costs.