[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2592 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2592

 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve the nutrition and 
   health of schoolchildren by updating the definition of ``food of 
minimal nutritional value'' to conform to current nutrition science and 
  to protect the Federal investment in the national school lunch and 
                          breakfast programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 6, 2006

Mr. Harkin (for himself, Mr. Specter, Mr. Bingaman, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. 
 Durbin, Mr. Chafee, and Mrs. Clinton) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve the nutrition and 
   health of schoolchildren by updating the definition of ``food of 
minimal nutritional value'' to conform to current nutrition science and 
  to protect the Federal investment in the national school lunch and 
                          breakfast programs.

    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 ``Child Nutrition Promotion and School 
Lunch Protection Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) for a school food service program to receive Federal 
        reimbursements under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 
        1771 et seq.) or the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.), school meals served by that 
        program must meet science-based nutritional standards 
        established by Congress and the Secretary of Agriculture;
            (2) foods sold individually outside the school meal 
        programs (including foods sold in vending machines, a la carte 
        or snack lines, school stores, and snack bars) are not required 
        to meet comparable nutritional standards;
            (3) in order to promote child nutrition and health, 
        Congress--
                    (A) has authorized the Secretary to establish 
                nutritional standards in the school lunchroom during 
                meal time; and
                    (B) since 1979, has prohibited the sale of food of 
                minimal nutritional value, as defined by the Secretary, 
                in areas where school meals are sold or eaten;
            (4) Federally-reimbursed school meals and child nutrition 
        and health are undermined by the uneven authority of the 
        Secretary to set nutritional standards throughout the school 
        campus and over the course of the school day;
            (5) since 1979, when the Secretary defined the term ``food 
        of minimal nutritional value'' and promulgated regulations for 
        the sale of those foods during meal times, nutrition science 
        has evolved and expanded;
            (6) the current definition of ``food of minimal nutritional 
        value'' is inconsistent with current knowledge about nutrition 
        and health;
            (7) because some children purchase foods other than 
        balanced meals provided through the school lunch program 
        established under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and the school breakfast program 
        established by section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
        U.S.C. 1773), the efforts of parents to ensure that their 
        children consume healthful diets are undermined;
            (8) experts in nutrition science have found that--
                    (A) since 1980, rates of obesity have doubled in 
                children and tripled in adolescents;
                    (B) only 2 percent of children eat a healthy diet 
                that is consistent with Federal nutrition 
                recommendations;
                    (C) 3 out of 4 high school students do not eat the 
                minimum recommended number of servings of fruits and 
                vegetables each day; and
                    (D) type 2 diabetes, which is primarily due to poor 
                diet and physical inactivity, is rising rapidly in 
                children;
            (9) in 1996, children aged 2 to 18 years consumed an 
        average of 118 more calories per day than similar children did 
        in 1978, which is the equivalent of 12 pounds of weight gain 
        annually, if not compensated for through increased physical 
        activity; and
            (10) according to the Surgeon General, the direct and 
        indirect costs of obesity in the United States are 
        $117,000,000,000 per year.

SEC. 3. FOOD OF MINIMAL NUTRITIONAL VALUE.

    Section 10 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1779) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking the section heading and all that follows 
        through ``(a) The Secretary'' and inserting the following:

``SEC. 10. REGULATIONS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary''; and
            (2) by striking subsections (b) and (c) and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(b) Food of Minimal Nutritional Value.--
            ``(1) Proposed regulations.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than 180 days after 
                the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary 
                shall promulgate proposed regulations to revise the 
                definition of `food of minimal nutritional value' that 
                is used to carry out this Act and the Richard B. 
                Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et 
                seq.).
                    ``(B) Application.--The revised definition of `food 
                of minimal nutritional value' shall apply to all foods 
                sold--
                            ``(i) outside the school meal programs;
                            ``(ii) on the school campus; and
                            ``(iii) at any time during the school day.
                    ``(C) Requirements.--In revising the definition, 
                the Secretary shall consider--
                            ``(i) both the positive and negative 
                        contributions of nutrients, ingredients, and 
                        foods (including calories, portion size, 
                        saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and added 
                        sugars) to the diets of children;
                            ``(ii) evidence concerning the relationship 
                        between consumption of certain nutrients, 
                        ingredients, and foods to both preventing and 
                        promoting the development of overweight, 
                        obesity, and other chronic illnesses;
                            ``(iii) recommendations made by 
                        authoritative scientific organizations 
                        concerning appropriate nutritional standards 
                        for foods sold outside of the reimbursable meal 
                        programs in schools; and
                            ``(iv) special exemptions for school-
                        sponsored fundraisers (other than fundraising 
                        through vending machines, school stores, snack 
                        bars, a la carte sales, and any other 
                        exclusions determined by the Secretary), if the 
                        fundraisers are approved by the school and are 
                        infrequent within the school.
            ``(2) Implementation.--
                    ``(A) Effective date.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Except as provided in 
                        clause (ii), the proposed regulations shall 
                        take effect at the beginning of the school year 
                        following the date on which the regulations are 
                        finalized.
                            ``(ii) Exception.--If the regulations are 
                        finalized on a date that is not more than 60 
                        days before the beginning of the school year, 
                        the proposed regulations shall take effect at 
                        the beginning of the following school year.
                    ``(B) Failure to promulgate.--If, on the date that 
                is 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
                paragraph, the Secretary has not promulgated final 
                regulations, the proposed regulations shall be 
                considered to be final regulations.''.
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