Today, Republican Leader of the House Education and Labor Committee Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Comptroller General Gene Dodaro to ensure ‘Buy America’ requirements for school meals are being followed.
In the letter the Members write: “The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) help schools and other entities provide meals to millions of school-aged children each year. As a part of those programs, providers are required to buy American foods. This ‘Buy American provision’ requires that school food authorities (SFAs) in the contiguous United States purchase domestic foods for the NSLP and SBP. This requirement is in place to safeguard the health and well-being of our nation’s children and to support the U.S. economy."
The Members continue: “Congress required USDA to enforce full compliance with the Buy American requirements, to ensure that states and SFAs fully understand their responsibilities, and to submit a report to Congress on actions taken to comply with this provision... [W]e would like to understand how the Buy American provision is currently being implemented."