The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“HEALTHY MEALS FOR CHILDREN ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E840-E841 on May 16, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HEALTHY MEALS FOR CHILDREN ACT
______
speech of
HON. PAT ROBERTS
of kansas
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, May 14, 1996
Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to rise in support of H.R. 2066, the Healthy Meals for Children Act of 1996. I know the Chairman of the Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee, Mr. Goodling, has sought a remedy for the problems caused by the implementation of the Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act of 1994 and this bill represents that corrective action.
When Congress passed and the President signed the 1994 amendments, we all believed that schools would be allowed to use a food-based system to meet the dietary guidelines for the school meals programs. Unfortunately, the regulations implementing the 1994 amendments did not provide this flexibility to schools.
Local school employees involved in the planning and preparation of school meals work very hard to make sure that the meals are nutritious and good tasting. A meal not eaten provides no benefit to anyone. Their challenge is to balance good nutrition with what children will eat.
The bill under consideration today provides for the flexibility and I am pleased to support it.
When these regulations were proposed in 1994, a hearing was held in the Committee on Agriculture. Members of the committee made it clear that the proposed rules would tie the hands of local schools and impose financial hardships on these schools, especially those in rural areas. Despite the concerns expressed, the Department of Agriculture went ahead and finalized the rules. Since that time local schools have continued to express their concerns.
Therefore it was necessary to bring a second bill to the House to ensure that local schools are provided with the flexibility that will allow them to prepare nutritious meals that meet the dietary guidelines.
There is a practical case to be made that local schools administrators should be able to decide how best to meet the needs of children participating in the School Lunch Program. No Federal regulation can guarantee that a nutritious school lunch will be consumed by children in school. No school lunch, no matter how nutritious, improves the diets of children if that lunch is not eaten. This bill represents a commonsense approach to health and nutritious meals in our schools.
Mr. Speaker, I am informed that the administration fully supports this bill and I urge all Members to support H.R. 2066.
