[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2795 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2795

 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to provide vouchers for the 
purchase of educational books for infants and children participating in 
  the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and 
                        children under that Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 18, 2003

  Mrs. Maloney (for herself and Ms. Norton) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to provide vouchers for the 
purchase of educational books for infants and children participating in 
  the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and 
                        children under that Act.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Access to Books for Children Act'' 
or the ``ABC Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Reading to a child plays a crucial role in the 
        development of the child's brain from the earliest years.
            (2) According to a 1995 study by the National Commission on 
        Reading, reading aloud to a child is the single most important 
        tool for developing literacy skills.
            (3) A child who is not introduced to books and early 
        literacy practices is more than three times as likely to drop 
        out of school as a child who is introduced to books and early 
        literacy practices.
            (4) The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends daily 
        reading to a child beginning when the child is just 6 months 
        old and recommends that pediatricians prescribe reading 
        activities and other instruction to parents during well-child 
        visits.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE CHILD NUTRITION ACT OF 1966.

    Section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(s) Vouchers for Purchase of Educational Books for Infants and 
Children.--
            ``(1) In general.--In carrying out the program under this 
        section, the Secretary shall provide grants to local agencies 
        for the purpose of providing vouchers to women participating in 
        the program for the purchase of educational books for the 
        infants and children of such women.
            ``(2) Additional requirements.--In providing vouchers 
        pursuant to paragraph (1), a local agency shall comply with the 
        following requirements:
                    ``(A) A woman may receive not more than 1 voucher 
                (irrespective of the number of infants or children of 
                the woman).
                    ``(B) The amount of a voucher may not exceed $5.
            ``(3) Funding.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Of the amounts made available to 
                the Department of Education for fiscal years 2004, 
                2005, and 2006, $10,000,000 shall be made available to 
                carry out this subsection (except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B)) for each such fiscal year.
                    ``(B) Administrative costs.--In addition to amounts 
                made available under subparagraph (A), there are 
                authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 
                $1,000,0000 for each of the fiscal years 2004, 2005, 
                and 2006 for the administrative costs in carrying out 
                this subsection.
                    ``(C) Availability.--Amounts made available under 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B) are authorized to remain 
                available until expended.''.
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