As we gear up for more deficit-reduction negotiations and potential across-the-board cuts to vital safety-net programs, our charge to President Obama is that he work with Congress to reduce the deficit in a way that strengthens protections around programs vital to vulnerable people.

Politicians love to tell us rags-to-riches stories. Democrats do; Republicans do. Independents probably do, too. Our president has one. So does our first lady. These tales ostensibly emphasize the American dream, and indeed they do -- but what of the generation in rags?

Ensuring that American students can attend school with full bellies seems like the most uncontroversial public policy of all time. Not so anymore, now that child nutrition has met the Tea Party.