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.
“SUPPORTING THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE CHILD NUTRITION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2204 on Dec. 18, 2010.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUPPORTING THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE CHILD NUTRITION ACT
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HON. DANNY K. DAVIS
of illinois
in the house of representatives
Friday, December 17, 2010
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, as we close this year, I wish to voice my support for the advancements we made to the Child Nutrition Act this month. S. 3307, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which the President signed into law this month, will do much to reduce child hunger and obesity.
Poverty is a stark reality for far too many people in my Congressional District, in Chicago, and in Illinois. In my Congressional District, the poverty rate based on 2008 Census data was 22.6 percent--well above the national average. The child poverty rate in 2008 for my District was 34.1 percent, almost double the national average. There are three primary child nutrition programs that this bill improves: the National School Lunch Program; Women, Infants, and Children, WIC, Program; and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. In Illinois, there are over 1 million children who benefit from the school lunch program, 300,000 who benefit from WIC, and 124,000 who benefit from the Child Care Food program. These children will benefit from our improvements to the Child Nutrition Act, whether they attend child care or school. Further, the state of Illinois will receive approximately
$11 million more dollars per year to help provide food for these children in need.
In addition to increasing federal reimbursements, I am proud that this bill will improve the nutritional quality of children's meals and reduce the availability of high-calorie junk food on school grounds. These steps will help tremendously to promote health and reduce obesity. I am very happy that this bill expands the after-school supper program, which is estimated to provide an additional 21 million meals to low-income children. I have had many people in Chicago tell me about the importance of these programs for children. There also are a number of enhancements to improve the programs' management and integrity. For example, in high poverty communities, the bill eliminates the requirement of paper applications and uses Census data to determine school-wide eligibility. It also establishes professional standards for food service providers and improves food safety requirements.
Given the deep need for improvements in the child nutrition law, I cast my vote in support of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. This said, I wish to voice two disappointments I have with this bill. First, although we increased reimbursement rates per meal by 6 cents, these new resources are not sufficient to cover the local cost of providing the federal free and reduced-priced lunches and breakfasts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that school districts' costs of providing free lunches exceeds the federal reimbursement by over 30 cents per meal. In urban areas like Chicago, this loss is much closer to 75 cents per meal. Given that over 700,000 students in Illinois participate in the low-income school lunch program, the financial burden to my school district is great. Subsidizing food so that low-income children can eat healthy meals and learn is important; I believe that the federal government should provide a greater share of the cost for caring for its youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
Second, I am disappointed that one of the offsets for this bill sent to us by the Senate is a reduction in funding for poor families in need of federal aid to purchase food. Children and families who receive food assistance are some of our most vulnerable citizens. In 2009, 1.46 million Illinoisans in 677,000 households received food stamps with an average per month of about $136 for a total benefit value issued of
$2.3 billion. There are many poor families in Chicago and Illinois who need the full amount of the food benefits. Even if the impact is a few years away, I am disappointed that my vote to provide much-needed improvements in our child nutrition laws occurs by reducing future benefits to the poor. I vow to work actively with my colleagues to replace this funding so that no reduction in food assistance comes to fruition.
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