[Senate Hearing 111-798]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-798
REAUTHORIZATION OF U.S.
CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAMS:
OPPORTUNITIES TO FIGHT HUNGER
AND IMPROVE CHILD HEALTH
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
NOVEMBER 17, 2009
__________
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.agriculture.senate.gov
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COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas, Chairman
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia
TOM HARKIN, Iowa RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana
KENT CONRAD, North Dakota THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi
MAX BAUCUS, Montana MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan PAT ROBERTS, Kansas
E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio CHARLES GRASSLEY, Iowa
ROBERT CASEY, Jr., Pennsylvania JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota JOHN CORNYN, Texas
MICHAEL BENNET, Colorado
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York
Robert Holifield, Majority Staff Director
Jessica L. Williams, Chief Clerk
Martha Scott Poindexter, Minority Staff Director
Anne C. Hazlett, Minority Chief Counsel
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing(s):
Reauthorization of U.S. Child Nutrition Programs: Opportunities
to Fight Hunger and Improve Child Health....................... 1
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009
STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY SENATORS
Lincoln, Hon. Blanche L., U.S. Senator from the State of
Arkansas, Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry....................................................... 1
Chambliss, Hon. Saxby, U.S. Senator from the State of Georgia.... 3
Panel I
Vilsack, Hon. Tom, Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Washington, DC................................................. 5
Panel II
Bogle, Margaret, Executive Director, Delta Obesity Prevention
Research Unit, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural
Research Service, Little Rock, Arkansas........................ 26
Huddleston, Rich, Executive Director, Arkansas Advocates for
Children and Families, Little Rock, Arkansas................... 29
Sanders, Rhonda, Executive Director, Arkansas Hunger Relief
Alliance, Little Rock, Arkansas................................ 30
Smith, Jennifer, Director of Compliance, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
Bentonville, Arkansas.......................................... 33
----------
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Casey, Hon. Robert P., Jr.................................... 50
Gillibrand, Hon. Kirsten..................................... 52
Harkin, Hon. Tom............................................. 54
Roberts, Hon. Pat............................................ 56
Bogle, Margaret.............................................. 57
Huddleston, Rich............................................. 63
Sanders, Rhonda.............................................. 72
Smith, Jennifer.............................................. 78
Vilsack, Hon. Tom............................................ 89
Document(s) Submitted for the Record:
American Frozen Food Institute, prepared statement........... 98
Child Food Insecurity: The Economic Impact on Our Nation..... 104
Expanding Access to Child Nutrition Programs................. 133
Feeding America, prepared statement.......................... 139
Obesity, Food Insecurity and the Federal Child Nutrition
Programs: Understanding the Linkages....................... 143
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood
Obesity, prepared statement................................ 176
Study Finds Lack of Food Plaguing More Families.............. 187
``Even Very Low Levels of Food Insecurity Found to Harm
Children's Health'', Children's Healthwatch Policy ACTION
Brief...................................................... 189
``Overweight Children, Weight-Based Teasing and Academic
Performance'', International Journal of Pediatric Obesity.. 191
Question and Answer:
Chambliss, Hon. Saxby:
Written questions for Hon. Tom Vilsack....................... 200
Harkin, Hon. Tom:
Written questions for Hon. Tom Vilsack....................... 200
Bennet, Hon. Michael:
Written questions for Hon. Tom Vilsack....................... 201
Brown, Hon. Sherrod:
Written questions for Hon. Tom Vilsack....................... 204
Cornyn, Hon. John:
Written questions for Hon. Tom Vilsack....................... 203
Casey, Hon. Robert P., Jr.:
Written questions for Hon. Tom Vilsack....................... 203
Gillibrand, Hon. Kirsten:
Written questions for Hon. Tom Vilsack....................... 205
Vilsack, Hon. Tom:
Written response to questions from Hon. Saxby Chambliss...... 208
Written response to questions from Hon. Tom Harkin........... 210
Written response to questions from Hon. Michael Bennet....... 213
Written response to questions from Hon. John Cornyn.......... 216
Written response to questions from Hon. Robert P. Casey, Jr.. 218
Written response to questions from Hon. Sherrod Brown........ 221
Written response to questions from Hon. Kirsten Gillibrand... 224
REAUTHORIZATION OF U.S.
CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAMS:
OPPORTUNITIES TO FIGHT HUNGER
AND IMPROVE CHILD HEALTH
----------
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
United States Senate,
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry,
Washington, DC
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:30 a.m., in
Room 562, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Blanche Lincoln,
Chairman of the committee, presiding.
Present or submitting a statement: Senators Lincoln,
Harkin, Stabenow, Brown, Casey, Klobuchar, Bennet, Gillibrand,
Chambliss, Lugar, and Grassley.
STATEMENT OF HON. BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE
STATE OF ARKANSAS, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
Chairman Lincoln. Well, good morning to everyone, and I
hope the sky doesn't fall because I am starting early, which is
unprecedented for me.
[Laughter.]
Chairman Lincoln. Unprecedented for me. I was waiting on
our colleague, Senator Chambliss, and I know he will be joining
us shortly, but I think I will go ahead and begin so that we
can move forward.
But good morning to everyone. We welcome you all to the
Senate Agriculture Committee, where today we will continue a
series of hearings begun by my predecessor, Senator Tom Harkin,
in anticipation of the reauthorization of the Federal Child
Nutrition Programs.
We are honored today to be joined by two very distinguished
panels of witnesses, including Secretary of Agriculture Tom
Vilsack and a panel of experts from my home State of Arkansas.
We undertake this task at a very difficult time. Just one
week before Thanksgiving, as we all reflect on the many
blessings in our lives, we are reminded of the tremendous need
that exists across our great country. I know as a child, a
farmer's daughter, and looking out at the field, realizing the
plenty that existed and also realizing the need that existed in
the community that I grew up, in East Arkansas.
Just yesterday, the Department of Agriculture released its
annual report on hunger and food insecurity. The technical
terms that USDA uses in this report are low food security and
very low food security. But folks, we have got to be honest
with ourselves and honest what that really means. It means that
these are families that are either hungry or a meal or two away
from being hungry.
This report highlights the seriousness of the child
nutrition bill that lies before us. According to the USDA, in
2008, 16.4 percent of all individuals, just over 49 million
people, experienced hunger or were at risk of hunger at some
point in time during the prior year. This is an increase of
nearly 13 million people over a year. Never before in the
history of this survey has this country experienced increases
of this magnitude.
For our most vulnerable citizens, our children, the story
is even worse. For those of us that have young, growing
children who come in from school or soccer practice and look up
at us and say, ``Mom, I am starving,'' and we reach to the
cupboard and find a healthy snack, an apple or a banana or
maybe a breakfast bar of some sort, we look into their eyes and
realize that they are satisfied and that we have done our best
job.
But we also have to put ourselves into the shoes of mothers
who don't have that opportunity, whose kids come in and say,
``Mom, I am starving,'' and a mom who loves her children just
as much as I love mine has to look into those eyes and realize
that there isn't something nutritious to feed their children,
or maybe nothing at all. That is what we are here to talk about
today.
Twenty-two-point-five percent of families with children
were at risk of hunger in 2008, up from 16.9 percent in 2007.
Rates were also markedly higher than the national average for
single parents and black and Hispanic households. I am also sad
to report that my home State of Arkansas now has the third
highest rate of hunger in the country. Fifteen-point-nine
percent are at risk.
These grim statistics add a note of seriousness to these
hearings that we hold today, but they also lend a sense of
purpose for what we have to do. The task before us is not just
a routine exercise. We do not undertake this simply because the
reauthorization expires, but because people across this country
are sorely in need. We go forward on this reauthorization
because people across this country are suffering and because we
all have a responsibility to act.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about
how this committee can carry out its responsibility in this
regard, especially in light of the new USDA report. But before
we do, I would like to outline three priority areas that I
think can serve as guiding principles for the reauthorization
before us.
First, we must take steps to ensure that all children
eligible for Federal Child Nutrition Programs are actually
receiving them. The number of children that are eligible and
unenrolled is astonishing. Despite the fact that programs such
as the School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs have been
around for decades, there remain many children who could be
participating but do not. A critical part of what we have to do
is to ensure that they can access these programs and that they
do.
Second, we must improve the nutritional quality of the meal
benefits provided through our Child Nutrition Programs.
Ensuring that children have enough to eat should be a hallmark
of a fundamentally decent society. But with obesity and
diabetes and nutrition-related chronic diseases epidemic among
us, we must not stop at just filling their bellies. We must
also take steps to provide foods that nourish and promote the
development of our children. Not only does it make sense in
terms of quality of life and what it is we are trying to
provide, it also is cost effective. Think of their abilities to
have better health care down the road with more nutritious
meals and exercise. Think of what it means in terms of their
learning capacity and their abilities to learn in school and
excel to their greatest of potential.
Third, we must modernize and improve the integrity of Child
Nutrition Programs. We have a WIC Program that, for the most
part, still relies on paper coupons even as most of our Federal
programs, like the SNAP Program, have entered the electronic
age by transitioning to electronic benefits. Even my mother got
rid of her rotary dial telephone. We have got to move forward.
In the School Lunch Program, elementary school children
carry paper applications in their backpacks, and then we wonder
why some applications never make it back to school. Folks, I
clean out those backpacks once a night. They are full of
paperwork and all kinds of things, whether it is homework that
has been there and back again or whether it is multiple pieces
of paper that children are sent home with for authorization
from parents to walk-a-thons for the homeless to a number of
other things. Some of them never reach parents. Some of them
never make their way back to school. These are the
circumstances that prevent our children from receiving those
School Lunch benefits. Surely we can do more to bring these
programs into the 21st century, with benefits for both children
and for program operators alike.
With these principles in mind, I look forward to the
testimony of our very qualified witnesses today. I look forward
to building upon the good work that this committee has already
done under the leadership of Senator Harkin and Senator
Chambliss and along with their incredibly capable staff and our
incredibly capable staff today who continue to work on this
issue with great passion and certainly with great energy in
moving us forward.
I would like to now, if it is appropriate, yield to my good
friend and colleague from Georgia, Senator Chambliss.
STATEMENT OF HON. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE
OF GEORGIA
Senator Chambliss. Thanks very much, Madam Chairman, and
thanks for holding this hearing. I would like to join you in
welcoming Secretary Vilsack back to our committee. Tom, it is
great to see you.
I am pleased we will have the opportunity to hear from the
administration about its priorities for reauthorization of
Child Nutrition Programs. Our country is fortunate to have a
strong nutrition safety net comprised of 15 different Federal
nutrition programs, but it is important that Congress reexamine
them on a regular basis to make sure they are as effective as
possible in serving Americans in need of nutrition assistance.
Due to the current economic downturn, we are seeing
unprecedented levels of participation in Federal nutrition
programs. Over 36 million people are currently participating in
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program each month, which
is the highest number in the program's 40-year history. In my
own State of Georgia, we have seen participation increase to
over 1.4 million Georgians, which is almost 15 percent of the
State's population, and Mr. Secretary, I am going to be curious
to hear how that corresponds to other participation around the
country, because I am sure there are unprecedented levels at
which we are seeing in all 50 of our States. The fact that the
SNAP program can swiftly serve those in need highlights one of
the program's key features: The fact that it can easily expand
and contract as economic condition change.
Schools are also realizing increased participation in the
National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, with expenditures
for 2010 likely to exceed $16.8 billion. The caseload for the
Women, Infants, and Children Program is also expected to rise,
and I am pleased that the 2010 Agriculture appropriations bill
funded the program at $7.25 billion to meet the potential
demand.
I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses. We all
agree that our Federal nutrition programs are not only
important tools to combat hunger in the United States, but also
effective tools to promote a healthy lifestyle and combat
obesity.
Regarding the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs,
the Institute of Medicine recently released a report with
specific recommendations to USDA on how to update the
nutritional requirements of the meals, calling for more fruits,
vegetables, and whole grains. I look forward to USDA issuing a
proposed rule on how best to implement the IOM's
recommendations to ensure that school meals meet the dietary
guidelines for Americans.
It is important to recognize the progress many schools have
made since the 2004 Child Nutrition Reauthorization to improve
the quality of meals served throughout the National School
Lunch Program, as well as the nutritional environment
throughout school campuses. Partnerships between schools, food
companies, and the public health community have demonstrated
various approaches to offering healthy foods in schools as well
as increasing physical activity opportunities.
One specific example is the Clinton Foundation's
partnership with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which
has effectively helped thousands of schools across the country
create environments where physical activity and healthy eating
are accessible and encouraged. We need to acknowledge the
investment of time and resources in making these changes, as
well as recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach may not be
in the best interest of our schools or our children.
Another program that I want to applaud is USDA's Healthier
School Challenge. I am very pleased that Secretary Vilsack
recently announced that the Challenge will now be open to
middle and high schools. Three Burke County public schools in
Georgia recently achieved the goal level of the challenge, and
I am impressed with the dedication of the School Food Service
Director and school leadership for their commitment to ensuring
a healthy and nutritious school environment.
Again, Madam Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing.
I look forward to the input of today's witnesses as we move
forward with the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition
Program. Thank you very much.
Chairman Lincoln. Thank you, Senator Chambliss.
We would like to welcome to the committee Secretary
Vilsack. I note that he is joined by two other Iowans today on
the committee, so we have got the whole State well represented,
and that is a good thing. I would just like to say how much we
appreciate Secretary Vilsack and all of your leadership as a
past Governor, without a doubt, but also from my standpoint,
the unbelievable passion that you have for rural development,
particularly coming from your roots in small communities in
which you provide a great leadership.
So we are delighted to have you here. I don't think there
needs to be much more introduction, other than the fact that we
look forward to working with you on really this very big
challenging issue to us and to our nation. Thank you, Mr.
Secretary, for being here.
STATEMENT OF HON. TOM VILSACK, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, DC
Secretary Vilsack. Madam Chair, thank you, and to Senator
Chambliss and the members of this committee, thank you for the
opportunity to discuss the pending reauthorization of the
Department of Agriculture's Child Nutrition Programs.
One of the first items that President Obama discussed with
me when I was first selected for this job was that one of his
top priorities for USDA was to provide children with healthier,
more nutritious meals. I pledged then and continue to uphold
that pledge that USDA will do everything it can to support the
health of our children and the health of the school environment
in thousands of schools across the country.
The upcoming effort to reauthorize the Child Nutrition
Program is a major opportunity for us to advance a number of
key priorities for our children, and I appreciate the chance to
appear before this committee to discuss the need for this
legislation and some of the administration's key priorities.
The reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Programs
presents us with an important opportunity to combat hunger, to
improve the health and nutrition of children across the nation,
and to enhance program performance. The scale of these programs
means that reforms can have a major impact on tens of millions
of school children. For instance, the National School Lunch
Program serves 31 million school children in more than 102,000
schools across the country. The School Breakfast Program is
available is over 88,000 schools and serves 11 million children
on a daily basis. In addition to the National School Lunch
Program and School Breakfast Program, the authorities to
operate the Summer Food Service Program, the Child and Adult
Care Food Program, the Special Milk Program, and the WIC
Program all come up for renewal this year.
The Obama administration takes this opportunity very
seriously. In the fiscal year 2010 budget, the administration
proposed an historic investment of $10 billion in additional
funding over ten years. The problems that we face and are
challenged today to address through this reauthorization
process are significant and critical to the future of this
country.
At the same time, we are facing a continuing problem for
some families being able to provide their children with enough
to eat. As the Chair indicated, yesterday, the Department
released a sobering report entitled, ``Household Food Security
in the United States 2008,'' showing that in over 500,000
families with children in 2008, one or more children simply did
not get enough to eat. They had to cut the size of their meals,
they had to skip meals, or even go whole days without food at
some time during the year. This is simply unacceptable in a
nation as wealthy and as developed as the United States.
This legislation is an opportunity in one stroke to
confront both the challenges of obesity and hunger, with the
prospect of better health and well-being for our children in
the years to come. Investing in meal quality and access to
these critical programs will help support the capacity of our
young people to learn and acquire the tools necessary to become
the leaders of tomorrow.
We can improve access to meals and explore new ways of
empowering communities to reduce food insecurity and hunger,
especially among children. We can make every school a place
where nutrition and learning shape the food offered by
improving food standards, eliminating foods that do not support
healthy choices and expanding physical activity opportunities.
We can help pregnant women, new mothers, and the youngest
children receive the support they need for optimal healthy
starts and supporting working families using child care by
providing nutritious food for their children and help them deal
with the challenges of today's economy.
Beyond these food security, nutrition, health, and learning
objectives, the reauthorization is an important opportunity to
promote economic development and a robust farm and food
economy. The Child Nutrition and WIC Programs are significant
outlets for the bounty of American farmers and ranchers. Each
year, USDA purchases approximately $1.5 billion of healthy
foods through its Commodity Distribution Program. These
purchases help support the entire agricultural value chain,
from growers to packers, shippers, manufacturers, to retailers.
The legislation is critical, not only for the nutrition,
but for health promotion, educational opportunity, and economic
development. For these reasons, I want to share the Obama
administration's top priorities for this legislation and
express my commitment to work with this committee to pursue a
robust reauthorization that advances these key priorities.
There are two main priorities that I will briefly discuss
this morning, reducing barriers and improving access, and
enhancing the nutritional quality and health of the school
environment. Improving program performance is also important to
us, and we will be attentive to that goal throughout the
reauthorization process.
For many children in our programs, school lunch and
breakfast represents the only healthy food they may eat all
day. We must work to ensure access to nutrition assistance for
children when and where they need it, particularly during the
gap periods when we know children struggle to receive the
nutrition they need, during the summer months, during
breakfast, and in after-school environments.
We also need to expand the School Breakfast Program.
Healthy days begin with healthy breakfasts. Many teachers
report that they can tell which of their children started the
day with a healthy breakfast and which did not. While 100,000
schools offer lunch, only 88,000 offer breakfast, and about
one-third as many children receive school breakfast as
participate in the lunch program on an average day.
To increase the number of schools offering breakfast and
the participation of children in the program, we need to look
for ways to support improvements in the nutritional quality of
the school breakfasts, as well. To expand participation in
school meals more generally, we must find and test innovative
approaches and determine their effectiveness in addressing
hunger among children, including modifications to accounting
and claiming processes in very low-income areas. Support should
also be provided to communities and States committed to ending
the scourge of hunger. And support should be provided to direct
certification efforts that automatically enroll eligible
children in these programs.
The Department looks forward to using the $22 million
provided in the Direct Certification Grants Program recently
approved in the Agricultural appropriations bill to encourage
States to enhance their existing direct certification systems
with new technologies or borrow ideas from States with
demonstrated direct certification success.
We also look forward to expanding support for
breastfeeding, the medically preferred feeding practice for
most infants in the WIC Program, especially through expansion
of peer counseling programs.
We must do everything we can to improve the nutritional
quality of school meals and the health of the school
environment, our second priority. The recent Institute of
Medicine report showed that the average American child between
the ages of five and eight consumes about 720 empty
discretionary calories per day, nearly half their total diet of
about 1,600 calories a day. Our young people are eating far
less dark green and dark orange vegetables than they need, far
fewer fruits than they need, far more refined grains and far
too few whole grains, and far too many high-fat dairy products
and too few low-fat and non-fat dairy products. We can and must
do better.
Additional support should be provided to train food service
professionals so they have the skills to serve top-quality
meals that are both healthy and appealing. We need to expand
the current requirements of the Food Safety Program to all
facilities where food is stored, prepared, and served. Every
parent knows that encouraging children to try new foods can be
challenging, but because children are developing preferences
and practices that will last a lifetime, it is especially
important that we recognize and support the role that school
food service professionals play in serving foods that
demonstrate that a healthy diet can be tasty and fun. But our
approach can also reflect the critical role that the whole
school environment plays, not just the lunch room. We need to
promote healthy lifestyles and combat obesity throughout the
school.
Not only should USDA establish nutrition standards for
school meals, but we should set national standards for all
foods sold in schools, including in the a la carte lines and in
vending machines, to ensure that they, too, contribute to a
healthy diet. This step is long overdue and critically
important to enhancing the health of the school environment.
And we need to strengthen school wellness policy implementation
and promote physical activity in schools.
But to be truly successful in making our schools a
healthier environment, we need more input from parents and
communities and we need their help. More information must be
provided to American parents on the performance of schools so
they can make choices for their children and take action to
make schools improve. We recommend that schools be required to
share information about the content of their meals with the
families that rely upon them, and we should work with
stakeholders to develop and communicate common nutrition
messages and provide materials in support of those messages.
Lastly, we should continue to advance the public trust by
investing in the school meal performance. Through technology
and training, we can reduce and should reduce error rates and
result management challenges in a way that serves our children
and the general public well.
Several weeks ago, through the passage of the Agricultural
appropriations bill, Congress made an important first step
toward accomplishing these goals. Thanks to the leadership of
the Chair, Senator Chambliss, and Senator Harkin, and Chairman
George Miller, we were able to improve children's access to
meals during the summer, help enroll more children in the
School Lunch Program, and improve health and nutrition in child
care settings. I view this as an important downpayment on the
priorities mentioned above.
I hope you will look at all these opportunities for
improving the health and well-being of America's children as
you consider legislation to modernize these programs. Just as
teachers inspire and parents encourage our children, we must
have healthy food that is available to help those future
generations grow and learn. The President, the First Lady, and
I are committed to combating hunger and providing healthier
foods to our nation's children and I hope we will have your
support in these efforts.
Again, I would like to thank the committee for the
opportunity to appear before you this morning to discuss the
reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Programs and I look
forward to answering questions you may have this morning. Thank
you, Madam Chair.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Thomas J. Vilsack can be
found on page 89 in the appendix.]
Chairman Lincoln. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. We are pleased
that you are here. We do look forward to not only working with
you to get this done, but get it done in a timely way in order
to make sure that we get the full benefit of this program out
into our schools and into our communities where our children
need it, without a doubt.
I will start off with a couple of questions and turn to my
colleague, and then start in the order of arrival with other
members for opening statements and any questions that they may
have.
Secretary Vilsack, there has been considerable discussion
about the need of additional funding to increase reimbursement
in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast
Program, especially in light of the recent Institute of
Medicine's recommendation for new meal standards, which will
likely increase cost, as well. And I am certainly sympathetic
to the concept of increased reimbursement rates. Common sense
does tell us that as we improve that quality, it also increases
the cost.
But I also want to be certain that if the committee does
recommend an increase in reimbursement rates, that we are
certain to be buying the outcomes that we want in terms of both
meal quality and efficiency, and I think that is going to be
really critical. Should the committee provide that additional
funding for reimbursement rates for school lunches and
breakfasts, do you have any idea as to how we can ensure
quality? Does it make sense to provide for reimbursement rate
increases that are conditioned on certain quality factors, is
that an option? Or how do we go about that, in your opinion?
Secretary Vilsack. Madam Chair, this is an important issue.
I think you have mentioned the fact the Institute of Medicine's
report did reflect that their recommendations would carry with
it additional costs. I think it is appropriate to note that it
will take us some time to institute the recommendations of the
Institute of Medicine, and during that period of time, we are
going to continue to encourage schools to look at the
nutritional content and value of the meals that they are
providing.
I think it is important for us to reward top performers,
look for ways in which we can work with the Secretary of
Education and the Department of Education to reward
performance. So we would encourage this committee and the
Congress to take a look at reimbursement rates that would be
linked directly to increased nutritional value in the form of
more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less fat, less
sodium, less sugar, transferring to low-fat dairy products,
things that were recommended by the Institute of Medicine.
We know what we need to do. In addition, we also should
take a look at increasing physical activity in our schools. It
is a troublesome statistic to me that approximately one-third
of high schools in this country are working at the recommended
physical education level and just about half of our students in
the country today actually have access to physical education.
So I think there are many ways in which we can encourage
healthier environments.
Chairman Lincoln. Well, I agree, just having met with a lot
of our school lunch folks in a symposium that was hosted by the
Heifer International Project on the Farm to School Program, and
talking to some of those food service people who were
enormously grateful for the additional funding, because they
have been using 40-and 50-year-old equipment. And one of the
women said steaming vegetables for 300 or 400 kids one pot at a
time is not very efficient or effective. She said, all we have
got is frying equipment from 30 years ago. Making sure that
they have got the kind of facilities and equipment they need to
be able to help prepare those foods, I think is going to be
critical, and I am pleased that we have gotten started with
that as we created our extension.
The School Breakfast, program is such a critical program.
Growing up on a farm, it is instilled in you that probably the
most important meal you get during the day is to get off with a
good start on breakfast. One of the things that I think holds a
great deal of promise is some of the new methods for providing
breakfasts in school. I know with 13-year-old boys, getting
them up extra early to go to school is not a pleasant thing and
oftentimes doesn't work with school children, trying to get
them to the cafeteria before school starts. They would rather
spend that extra 15 minutes in bed, and I am sure other
children are the same way.
Has USDA looked into some of the different methodologies
and assessed their effectiveness in reaching more children? I
know there have been some suggestions experimenting with Grab
'n' Go Breakfast Bags or breakfast in the classroom or other
things like that.
Secretary Vilsack. Madam Chair, we are constantly looking
for ways and opportunities to encourage an expansion of School
Breakfast. As I mentioned in my opening statement, we are still
short of the number of schools that actually participate in
this program and we would obviously encourage those that don't
participate to do so.
We are open to suggestions to best practices. I think one
of the responsibilities USDA has in this area is to be able to
identify where best practices, where participation rates are
high, where teachers report to us an appropriate environment
where youngsters are active and energized early in the morning
as a result of having a healthy breakfast.
We have done some research, as you probably know, in the
past on whether or not a universal breakfast system would work.
There are some concerns about mandating this, but I think there
are ways in which we can identify--there are schools, Kevin
Concannon was sharing with me earlier today, the Under
Secretary, about how he was in a school in Colorado that was
essentially having school [sic] in the classroom, which made it
a little easier for youngsters, especially youngsters who may
be a little bit young, to know how to access the food. If it is
in the classroom, it makes it easier and more convenient. So I
think there are ways in which we can look for opportunities for
expansion.
Chairman Lincoln. Well, I look forward to working with you,
and I have got a few more questions I will save for later and I
will turn to my colleague, Senator Chambliss.
Senator Chambliss. Well, thanks, Madam Chairman.
Mr. Secretary, I am very pleased to hear you talk in terms
of parental involvement in exercise in addition to just our
diet, because there is no question but what this has got to be
an integrated force if we are going to be successful in making
sure that our children are healthy, which includes dealing with
the issue of obesity. There are other reasons besides that why
they need parental involvement in exercise. Having a wife who
taught for 30 years in the classroom, parental involvement is
so critical in the educational phase that without it, students
have a much tougher time. But it is tough to get them involved
in a lot of instances.
I look forward to dialoguing with you about how, from a
nutrition standpoint, we can engage parents, and by doing that,
and vice-versa with education, maybe we can kind of dual track
that. The more involvement parents have, the healthier the kids
are going to be and the better education they are ultimately
going to get.
Congress has considered the issue of Federal standards for
food sold in competition to the meals provided through the
National School Breakfast and Lunch Program for a number of
years and there are still several policy issues that obviously
remain unresolved. You recommend a, quote, ``national baseline
standard for all food sold in elementary, middle, and high
schools,'' and I would like for you to elaborate on that
recommendation a little bit. Are you talking, Mr. Secretary,
about individually standardizing items in vending machines or
in a la carte lines, or an overall program, and really, how are
we going to define that? What is your thought about how we can
enforce that?
Secretary Vilsack. Well, Senator, I think it starts with
the wake-up call that the Institute of Medicine's report
suggesting that we have some serious issues with the quality,
nutritional quality of what is taking place in our school lunch
programs. But the concern that I have is that we could do
everything we need to do on the school lunch line and it could
be countermanded or counteracted by what we do or what we don't
do with reference to vending machines and things that are sold
in the school during the school day.
So I think it is incumbent upon us to work with schools to
create standards that basically define the nutritional value of
things that will be sold. We have seen schools that have sort
of transitioned, and we have been working with the industry,
the food industry, with the beverage industry, that recognize
the need to be responsible and are anxious to work with us in
making sure that those vending machines have appropriate
content. We know that youngsters will continue to purchase. We
are not concerned about substantial reductions in school income
because the vending machine content changes.
But we think it is important for us to lay a marker, to lay
down what we think the nutritional value ought to be and then
work with schools. Obviously, as this goes through a rulemaking
process, we will receive comments. We will receive information
from experts. But the bottom line is for us to make a statement
that we want our school environments to be healthy, and to do
that, it is going to require not just focusing on more fruits
and vegetables in the school lunch line and more fruits and
vegetables, et cetera, during the Breakfast Program, but it is
also going to take a look at vending machines.
Senator Chambliss. I have heard from a number of my food
banks around my State about the increase for demand of items in
the respective food banks, and obviously that increased demand
includes families with an awful lot of children. I want to
commend you on the job that USDA has done in meeting that
increased demand, and again, that compliment has come from the
food bank directors themselves. USDA has done a very good job
of addressing this increased demand.
That does bring on other issues, though, when we see this
population increase. Can you share with the committee how you
see the outlook for ongoing levels of USDA food and financial
support for emergency food providers and give us an idea of
where you think we are headed there? What kind of time line are
you anticipating that increased demand?
Secretary Vilsack. Well, Senator, I think it is obviously
tied to the health of the economy. It is my----
Senator Chambliss. I was hoping you had a good, solid
projection, Tom, that we could look at.
Secretary Vilsack. I will tell you, just from a USDA
perspective, we are encouraged by the number of grants, loans,
business activity in our rural development portfolios. As a
result of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we know that there
are a significant number of infrastructure projects that are
going to result in construction and employment opportunities in
2010 and we are encouraged by the participation, the interest,
the capacity to move resources out at USDA. So I am hopeful
that we will begin to see a leveling off of this rather steep
increase. But it is clearly tied to the health of the economy.
Fortunately, the Congress had the wisdom to include in the
Recovery and Reinvestment Act more resources for SNAP, more
resources for food assistance, and the reason I say that is
that there is probably no more direct immediate stimulus than
the resources that you are providing through SNAP.
Ninety-seven percent of those resources are actually
invested within 30 days. In other words, people actually
utilize those resources immediately. And if you think about it,
when they use those resources, it means something more is being
purchased at the grocery store. Somebody has got to stock that,
which means that you can keep your job at the grocery store.
Somebody has got to truck it, which means somebody keeps their
trucking business open. Somebody has got to process it, which
means those processing facilities are still operating and
employing people. And someone has got to produce it, which
means the farmers and ranchers ultimately receive the benefit.
So it is important for people to recognize the economic
development component of food assistance. This isn't just about
human services. It isn't just about the moral responsibility we
have. It is actually good economics in tough times.
So we attempted to try to get these resources out as
quickly as we could. We saw a tremendous demand. And we will
continue to work hard with the States. I will say that we have
to acknowledge the activity of State governments, Governors, in
helping us administer these programs effectively.
Senator Chambliss. Are you comfortable with where you are
resource-wise with respect to the anticipated continuing
demand?
Secretary Vilsack. Well, I think our focus, Senator, is
making sure that we have adequate resources to be able to
expand programs that currently, in our view, are underutilized.
We have still youngsters today that don't participate in the
School Lunch and School Breakfast Program that need the School
Lunch and School Breakfast Program, which is why we are
suggesting additional resources and improvements in how people
qualify and how people can become eligible for these programs.
We are looking for ways to remove the stigma that is sometimes
associated with participation in these programs so that more
people participate.
Our focus obviously is on the children of this country. I
find it, and I know you do, too, troublesome that when the
report was issued yesterday that over a million children every
day are faced with low food security, which is skipping meals,
not having sufficient nutrition, and we can't expect those
youngsters to perform at their optimal level as students if
they are not well fed and well cared for.
Senator Chambliss. Lastly, for several years, USDA has
worked very closely with the Department of Defense to
distribute fresh fruits and vegetables to schools around the
country. In recent years, DOD's Fresh Program has made changes
to its procurement and distribution process and there have been
concerns raised about the results of these changes, such as
higher prices and inconsistent deliveries. While these concerns
have been voiced only in certain pockets of the country, I
wanted to bring this issue to your attention. While previous
farm bills have mandated that USDA partner with DOD for the
distribution of produce, the most recent farm bill gives us
USDA the flexibility to consider other distribution partners if
they are needed.
I don't have a question about this, I just wanted to
highlight it with you. I am going to submit some questions to
you and I look forward to getting your answers to see how we
can address this further down the road.
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, we will take a look at those
questions and answer them promptly. We are currently purchasing
60 different varieties of fruits and vegetables under that
program. Obviously, if there are problems in distribution, we
need to address them.
Senator Chambliss. Thanks, Madam Chairman.
Chairman Lincoln. Thank you. Just for the members'
knowledge, I think there are going to be either two or more
votes called at 11:15, unfortunately, so we will try to keep
our hearing going.
We go to Senator Harkin, and I would just like to take a
personal privilege and say thank you for all your hard work on
this issue and handing over a committee that is certainly well
versed and well equipped to deal with this. So thank you,
Senator Harkin.
Senator Harkin. Madam Chair, thank you very much, and thank
you for your leadership on this and always working together to
try to move this child nutrition bill.
I also want to thank our Ranking Member, Senator Chambliss,
for his longtime and continuing interest in the area of child
nutrition.
I just ask that my statement be made a part of the record.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Tom Harkin can be found on
page 54 in the appendix.]
Senator Harkin. You know, there is a lot of debate going on
and now we are all getting wrapped around the axle on health
care reform around here, but it seems to me that the essential
underlying feature of having a healthy country is having
healthy kids. If we are going to change all this system of how
we are paying the bills and yet we have got a whole cohort
coming along that are overweight and obese and have diabetes
and high blood pressure, we are going to go broke.
So it seems to me we have really got to focus in this area,
and I want to commend our Secretary of Agriculture for again
focusing on this, not just as Secretary, but before when, as
Governor of the State of Iowa and as a former State Senator,
this has been an area, I can tell you, of Tom Vilsack's focus
and interest for a long, long time. So I am glad we are kind of
coming to this point where this committee and the Department
and administration are working together to really move the ball
forward in great ways in terms of child nutrition.
But I can't resist the opportunity at times like this to
always ask the fundamental question that I keep asking over all
these years. If schools are places we send our children for
education, why do we have vending machines in schools? Tell me
again, why are there vending machines in schools? There weren't
vending machines when I was young. I mean, there were vending
machines, just not in schools. I am not that old.
[Laughter.]
Senator Harkin. We just didn't have them in schools. I
followed this and watched this happen, and then a la carte
lines and sales of foods. Mr. Secretary, you said it best. You
said children are subject to innumerable influences in their
environment. As they develop preferences and practices that
will last a lifetime, their choices are shaped by their
surroundings, at home, in school, and their wider community.
The school nutrition environment is a powerful influence in
this regard. Accordingly, the administration recommends setting
higher standards for all foods sold in school. You stated that
earlier.
What good does it do for the Secretary to have jurisdiction
over the food in the lunch room when the kids can go right down
the hall and put their money in vending machines and get
whatever they want, or they can go to a snack bar someplace or
that kind of thing?
So I think we have to ask--I always ask that fundamental
question. Why do we have vending machines in schools? It seems
to me that we got off track. We got off track by providing an
easy, easy access to kids for high-sugar, high-fat, high-salt
type of foods. It seems to me that we need to recommit
ourselves to having schools be commercial-free zones for kids--
commercial-free zones, where they are not inundated with all
the commercials. It is almost like our schools are becoming
like little minor strip malls where kids have easy access to
some of the worst foods. So this fundamental question of why we
allow this.
And then, again, the Secretary of Agriculture should have
the authority, and that is what my bill does, and I am
grateful, Madam Chair, for your support of the bill, and we
have 30-some cosponsors on both sides of the aisle on this. I
think the time has come to give the Secretary that kind of
authority so that we have a standard. We look to the IOM, we
get scientific-based data, and let the Secretary have that
authority.
One question I had, Mr. Secretary, was sort of asked by
Senator Chambliss. He talked about the additional funding and
stuff. But there is another thing. We have seen some schools in
this country where they have changed the way they prepare
foods. They use locally-grown foods and they deliver healthier,
more nutritious foods and the cost increment is not any more
than buying the packaged foods. It is just a different way of
doing things.
I use the example in our State of Cedar Falls, where they
have shown that they can prepare very healthy, nutritious meals
that kids like. It is not just a glump of something put on a
plate. And they have kept their costs down very comparable with
what they get with packaged meals.
I guess the only thing I would ask from you is, is the
Department looking at examples, and I am sure there must be
examples in other States and places where schools are
experimenting with ways of preparing local foods, yet keeping
the costs down?
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, we are, and in fact, we are
putting together as part of our Know Your Farmer, Know Your
Food Initiative a set of tactical teams from the USDA that are
going to go out and educate school districts and food service
officials with what is available in the locality where their
school district is located. Oftentimes, there is a disconnect
between what is available and what people know is available,
and those tactical teams will encourage local production and
local consumption and creating the link.
We are also going to use some of our rural development
resources to try to create the supply chain that in some cases
does not yet exist, but if it did, schools could access those
foods more easily and less expensively. So that is part of our
Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative.
Senator Harkin. Great. One last thing. Next year, on the
other committee on which I sit, we are going to reauthorize the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. That is the Department
of Education. I know you are working closely with Secretary
Duncan. I encourage you to keep that up. We have got to meld
these two together, this bill, Madam Chair, that you are going
to lead on school nutrition and the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act to get exercise and more time for our kids in
school to exercise. So I encourage you and Secretary Duncan to
continue to work together to put these together as a package.
Secretary Vilsack. Well, I have appreciated the partnership
that we have. I think both Secretary Duncan and I believe that
we need to reward good performance and this is certainly part
of it. As I said before, I am a little bit distressed by the
statistics that suggest that so little physical activity takes
place in many of our schools. It is an issue of time, but it is
also an issue of understanding the importance of it and how it
leads to better academic performance.
Senator Harkin. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, thank you Madam
Chair.
Chairman Lincoln. Senator Lugar.
Senator Lugar. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
Let me just follow up on Senator Harkin's thinking. There
was recently a report offered by a military group in Washington
which indicated that because of poor education, poor nutrition
and obesity, essentially physical ailments in addition, 75
percent of Americans 17 to 24 years of age would be ineligible
to serve in the Armed Forces. That is a huge number, three-
quarters. Mind you, this covers all three of the Departments
that you have recently mentioned are going to be coordinating,
you with Secretary Sebelius and Secretary Duncan.
I would just underline the importance of this in a recent
visit I paid to Warren Township's school in which a number of
students have not done well have been brought back into the
system, about 280 people. They have combined that with a
community health center which literally serves as an emergency
room for the community. They have combined that with the school
feeding programs so that the health side of it as well as the
nutrition and the education are combined. It is a remarkable
exercise, and I am certain there are other examples of this
around the country.
But I mention that it is not impossible to do what you
three Secretaries are thinking about. What I am wanting to
inquire today is how are your preparations going? In other
words, what are the physical elements of this cooperation? Do
you have a steering committee? Do you have a group of people
that gather together from time to time in addition to you as
Secretaries? In other words, what can we look at in Congress to
follow in all of our committees, whichever they may be, which
may be elements of this coordination so that American youth are
not only prepared to serve in the military, but prepared really
to serve as citizens, parents, and what have you?
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, first of all, let me comment on
the fact that you and your staff provide a good example. I
understand you have got a fitness activity that you participate
in with your staff and it is something I think many of us
should follow.
One of the great opportunities that we have is the
leadership of the First Lady on this particular issue. I have
been joined by her on a number of occasions where she has
indicated that this is a priority for her. It is obviously a
priority for the President, as well. And she within the White
House is creating an opportunity for us to meet on a regular
basis to take a look at how we can--for example, Senator
Chambliss mentioned the Healthier U.S. School Challenge--how we
can encourage more than the 600 schools that are currently
acknowledged as part of that challenge to participate? And as
you know, that involves that combination of better diets,
better nutrition in the school environment, as well as physical
activity. The First Lady wants to be able to acknowledge
schools that meet that challenge. That is a good way of getting
the word out about the importance of this.
We need to continue to look for ways in which we can
provide best practice information to school districts that are
interested in this, and so there is a coordinated effort within
the White House where you have multiple agencies working and
involved on this, and we are absolutely committed to it, make
no mistake about it. This is one of the top priorities that I
have identified for the USDA.
Senator Lugar. Well, that is very encouraging, and I am
hoping there are some metrics that can be devised that show how
much progress is occurring.
Secretary Vilsack. Well, that is an interesting challenge,
because we are trying to determine precisely what the right
metric is. Is it time? As you know, the NFL is currently
working to promote its Play 60 Initiative, which we are very
interested in working with them to encourage that. Is it
reducing the levels of obesity, and if so, how is that defined?
I will tell you that it isn't just in the school
environment that we need to be concerned about this. If you
take a look at early childhood statistics, a very troublesome
trend zero to five in terms of obesity, as well. So there are
also efforts that have to be taken in early childhood, which is
why the Department is partnering with Sesame Street and other
programs to do PSAs and ways in which we can encourage young
parents to understand what they can do to make it better. So
there are an awful lot of partnerships.
We are currently dealing with the metric issue. I don't
know that we have an answer today, but we are aware that we
have to have a metric by which to determine success or failure.
Senator Lugar. My second line of questioning is the goals
that you have expressed in your opening statement and that many
members of the committee would reinforce with regard to things
we ought to be doing in child nutrition. By and large,
expansion of these programs is expensive. It carries some
fiscal responsibility. I am just curious, as we reauthorize the
programs, have you been able to work through the budget process
to determine whether we can pay for them or what the prospects
are of this?
This is not a new question. Each time around,
reauthorization comes and there are annual appropriations and
what have you. And sometimes even within the Agricultural
budget, there are--I wouldn't say battles, but disputes as to
where the money ought to go, whether in terms of crop subsidies
or conservation or all sorts of other good things that we do.
But what is the prospect for the financing of the goals that
you have suggested today?
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, I think it is important to
focus when you are dealing with the issue of costs and
affordability of what the cost of inaction and inactivity might
be. I think Senator Harkin put his finger on the cost long-
term. If we fail to address this issue aggressively now, we
will clearly, clearly pay for it in significant increases in
health care expenditures in the future. So that is the first
thing.
Secondly, I think it is incumbent upon us to continue to
look at ways in which we can utilize the resources that
Congress has provided to us in more efficient ways, and we may
be able to come up with a suggestion or two about how that
could be done. But I think it is important for this committee,
if I respectfully could say this, to really raise the level of
appreciation for the importance and priority of this issue.
If you combine the hunger issue with the obesity issue,
with nutrition and food safety, I think we are at a tipping
point in this country and hopefully in this Congress to take
all of these matters to a different level. And when you take
them to a different level, they become a significant priority.
And as you well know, Senator, from your experience, you fund
your priorities. You fund your priorities. I believe this ought
to be a priority.
Senator Lugar. I admire your leadership and we will support
what you want to do here. I just as a practical matter say
there will come a time when choices will have to be made by
this committee as well as our appropriation types and it will
be important for us all still to be on board at that stage.
Thank you very much.
Chairman Lincoln. Thank you, Senator Lugar.
Senator Stabenow.
Senator Stabenow. Well, thank you, Madam Chair. First, I
want to congratulate you on your new position and on picking
such an important topic for the first hearing of your
Chairmanship, and also to thank Senator Harkin for his
wonderful leadership over the years. But I very much appreciate
your leadership, Madam Chair, and also the priorities that you
laid out for us in terms of this bill, which I think are very
important and welcome.
Secretary Vilsack, it is always great to see you.
I did want, within the priorities that the Chair has laid
out, to speak about an additional piece of this in addition to
breakfast and lunch which is after-school or supper programs. I
am very pleased that Senator Lugar has joined with me as well
as the Chair and Senator Brown, and I know there will be
support from other members of the committee, as well, for an
After-School Meals Act that would expand what is right now
essentially a pilot, where 13 States plus the District of
Columbia are authorized to provide supper for young people up
to the age of 19. And, of course, in our other States, it is up
to the age of 12, and there are ways in which we have lessened
the bureaucracy in that.
I do have a question, though, about how that is actually
working in States. Michigan is one of the States that is
authorized, but we right now are in a situation where we have
very low participation even though we have very high need, and
one of the reasons is that the suppers can only be reimbursed
through the Child and Adult Care Food Program. It is not
through the other programs, the Russell Program on School
Breakfasts and Lunches. What this means for us is it is a
totally different funding stream. It means they have to comply
with different State licensing laws and regulations on after-
school day care to provide for this and it is just another
whole bureaucracy. So it is stopping States even who have been
authorized, like Michigan, from being able to fully
participate.
I wonder if you and your staff would be willing to work
with us, both to support the legislation, which would expand
the program to all 50 States, but to also create a way where
States could use the Russell funding criteria rather than going
through the CACFP right now.
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, as you know, we obviously,
absent legislative direction and authority, don't have the
capacity to utilize other programs. We basically have to work
within the lane provided by the Child and Adult Care Food
Program, and as you well know, that is a program in terms of
participation that is substantially lower in terms of numbers
of people than the School Lunch and School Breakfast Program. I
think it is around 2.6 million people that are currently
involved and engaged in it.
We obviously would work with Congress if you direct that
this is something that is a priority and that you believe that
it needs to be expanded and you provide us the legislative
authority. We will do everything we can to administer it as
effectively and efficiently as possible.
We are interested, and I might say from a priority
standpoint, we are interested in continuing to also expand
participation in those regular programs that already have high
levels of participation, but still students, still youngsters
today don't fully participate in them. It is important for us
to also improve, as we talked about earlier, the nutritional
value, and there is some expense associated with that. But if
you give us the legislative authority, we will use it as
effectively and efficiently as we can.
Senator Stabenow. Obviously, we have multiple needs. I
think it is clear, though, in this economic time where families
are struggling with one or two or three different jobs or part-
time jobs to try to pull things together and keep a roof over
their heads that the Supper Program has also become something
very important for the same children. So I appreciate working
with you on that.
And then the other question I would have relates to efforts
we have been working on to modernize school kitchens. I was
really struck by a visit I had a couple of years ago in
Traverse City, Michigan, where a school on its own chose to
take away just the microwaves. We think about, well, we will
just have healthy food. But most of the schools don't have the
capacity to cook healthy food. They have a microwave. They have
other things for fast food. But they don't really have a
kitchen.
And this particular school on their own had actually redone
their entire kitchen so they could actually have not only
salads, but cook real food. I know this is something we have
been working on. We put dollars in the economic recovery
package and money into Agriculture appropriations bills. But at
least in Michigan, the requests have been six times higher than
the dollars available. It seems to me that it is going to be
impossible for schools to do what we wish them to do if we
don't give them the infrastructure to be able to cook healthy
food and prepare healthy food.
So I wonder if you might give us an update on where we are
on that program, and given the tight budgets that we all face,
are there ways we can creatively partner with schools or
public-private funding in order to modernize kitchens, which I
think if we are not careful is really going to be a barrier for
us getting to where we want to go on this.
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, as in all things in this topic,
it is a complex set of discussion points. First of all, again,
the Congress and the administration should be thanked for
seeing the wisdom of putting resources in the Recovery and
Reinvestment Act for modernization efforts because it gave us a
sense of what the demand was. As you know, you put $100
million. We received 24,000 applications--24,000 applications--
which would have, if we had fully funded all of them, would
have required $640 million. We were able through a competitive
grant process to fund a little over 5,000 of those grants.
We are certainly appreciative of the $25 million that was
included in the 2010 appropriations bill and we will use a
process similar to make sure that the $25 million is stretched
as far as it possibly can go. I think the more we do this, the
more awareness will be created.
I would say one other thing. I think it is important to
also recognize the need for additional technical training and
education for food service providers, and that is why it is
important for us to continue to support the National Institute
at the University of Mississippi to make sure that we continue
to provide additional training and upgrade the skills of those
who are currently managing and operating these food service
operations so they, in turn, can make the case locally
effectively of the need why this should be a priority.
The more awareness, the more discussion there is, the
greater the likelihood that private foundations, community
foundations, community backers, school boards will understand
the significance and importance of these investments, and that
way, we can leverage the resources that the Federal Government
has.
Senator Stabenow. Thank you.
Chairman Lincoln. Senator Grassley.
Senator Grassley. Thank you Madam Chairman, Secretary
Vilsack; thank you for your testimony today.
I have been preempted on a couple questions, so I may only
have one, but bring emphasis to the issue that the Senator from
Indiana brought up about national security. That report
emphasized that what we do today is going to have a difference
when young people today are joining or not joining the
military, being ready or not being ready for the military in
2030. So we are talking about national security issues, as
well.
My question is in regard to the report that you issued
yesterday, and I commend you for that. It brings attention to
what this hearing is all about today. When you try to, as a
Federal agency, try to lead local governments and schools in
America, or local governments, if there ever is a local
government, could you describe any resistance or reluctance on
the part of schools to develop these policies with your
agency's outreach efforts?
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, drawing on my experience as a
mayor, a State Senator, and a Governor, I know that during
stressful economic times, oftentimes in State budgets, a
substantial percentage of the State budget goes to schools. And
so when budgets are being cut, then obviously resources
available to schools are reduced and that creates challenges
for school boards and administrators. So anything relating to
additional cost obviously carries with it some stress and
pressure.
That is why I think it is important for us at the Federal
level to appreciate and understand that challenge and to figure
out ways in which we can, A, provide additional resources if
they are available to make it easier, and B, work with those
school districts to create creative and innovative ways in
which they can stretch those dollars. It gets back to the
training issue. It gets back to the equipment issue that I
discussed earlier.
So I think that the pressure point here is not--I think
everyone wants our children to have more nutritious food. I
think everyone appreciates the necessity of physical activity.
But I think time and resources are often the pressure points
and we are trying to address at least one of them here with
this discussion this morning.
Senator Grassley. Madam Chairman, I am going to yield back
my time. I had a couple of other questions, but they were asked
by other members.
Chairman Lincoln. Thank you.
Senator Klobuchar.
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and
thank you for holding this important hearing. We both have
children of the same age and we both have that experience, I
think, of walking into that cafeteria line and seeing these
kids having to make the choice between a yogurt or french
fries, and guess what they choose. I think most adults might
make the same error.
And so I am really glad that we are moving forward with
this Child Nutritional Promotion and School Lunch Protection
Act. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of that bill. I
thank Senator Harkin for his leadership, as well.
The way I look at this, we have two things going on. We
have the nutrition issues which we are talking about today,
Secretary Vilsack, and thank you for your leadership on that,
as well as the fact that as recesses get shorter, kids
waistlines are getting wider, and so we also have to look at
the exercise that they have. The availability of exercise both
during the day and after school, I think is very important, as
well.
But I wanted to start--I know Senator Harkin touched on the
vending machine issue and this idea that we can have more
healthy food in vending machines, but I wanted to talk about
this a la carte line idea, that maybe free choice is not the
best idea. You want to have healthy food, but if you start
having choices that aren't that healthy, that doesn't really
help. And what I like about this bill is that it looks at the
whole school nutritional value. Do you want to talk about some
of the problems if you have choices that aren't at all healthy?
Secretary Vilsack. Well, the Institute of Medicine in its
report outlined that it isn't just simply having a planning
mechanism that focuses on nutrition, but it also needs to
address--the school needs to address those choices and
essentially encouraging, creating ways in which we can
encourage schools to have youngsters make the right set of
choices.
Part of it, I think, is information. As we know more about
the caloric content of our choices, we sometimes make different
choices----
Senator Klobuchar. I don't think a seven-year-old is going
to be able to know that.
Secretary Vilsack. Well, I was thinking about all the
youngsters in the schools, high school, middle school. I think
there are youngsters certainly in high schools and in the upper
grades of the middle school that are becoming more conscious of
that.
Secondly, it is creating systems and processes in which
schools are rewarded or incented for encouraging and limiting
the choices that youngsters have and making sure the choices
they make are nutritious. And I think that there are ways in
which we will, through the process of finalizing the rule,
following the Institute of Medicine's report, ways in which we
can look to incent the right kind of behavior.
Senator Klobuchar. Also, Secretary Vilsack, I think this
idea of having the standards, these national standards,
national interpretation of these dietary guidelines, would not
only be better for our kids, but could save money, as well.
Could you talk about that?
Secretary Vilsack. Well, any time you have standards, it
gives definition to the school and makes it a little bit easier
for people to comply with the requirements, and therefore,
hopefully, it would encourage a broader array of choices which
encourages competition and in turn should support lower prices.
I think, secondly, the important role that local production
and local consumption and linking--we talked about this
earlier--our farm to school efforts, our Know Your Farmer, Know
Your Food efforts, we think we can reduce the cost by reducing
the transportation expense that is associated with the sale of
processed items completely. So there are a multitude of ways in
which we can stretch those dollars. It is also better training.
There are recipes, there are ways in which we can encourage
those dollars to be stretched and still provide nutritious
food. We are dealing with this right now sort of globally by
encouraging on the USDA web site recipes and so forth that
allow the SNAP recipients, for example, to be able to figure
out how to stretch their resources.
It is about the work that Sesame Street is doing with early
childhood. They have distributed three million booklets that
contain recipes, games, ways in which youngsters can be
encouraged to put a rainbow on their plate, things of that
nature, to understand the difference between, as they say,
anytime foods and sometimes foods, which some of us obviously
have difficulty with. But if we can get our youngsters to
understand the difference, understand that a treat is a treat
and not something that can be expected every day, I mean, those
are all ways in which you can save money and provide more
nutritious foods.
Senator Klobuchar. Well, one issue that was raised with me
was this idea of charging school nutrition programs indirect
costs. As you know, there are no limits under current law
placed on the amount of Federal nutrition money that can be
directed toward indirect costs, such as heating the school or
paying for paper. Do you think there should be some limits,
that would help to funnel more money toward the nutrition
programs, since we are also dealing with shortages in our
school budgets?
Secretary Vilsack. Here is the challenge with that issue. A
2008 study suggested that 79 percent of school districts are
not currently involved in that type of activity with indirect
costs. Those that are, it is a wide range of those who are
doing it the right way, charging for reasonable and necessary
expenditures, and those that may be taking advantage of the
circumstance, I think rather than placing a cap which could
potentially encourage more schools in that 79 percent to
utilize indirect, rather than doing that, I think perhaps a
better way would be to focus on those schools that are perhaps
utilizing the capacity in an ineffective way or an
inappropriate way and encouraging them to get their indirect
costs more in line with what is reasonable and necessary.
And let me give you an example that was given to me
yesterday. If you are going to charge a School Lunch Program
for the dumpster that they use, that is fine. But if you are
going to charge them for every dumpster in the entire school
system, that may not be okay, and those are the kinds of things
that we need to encourage schools to do a better job of.
Senator Klobuchar. I appreciate that, and I am out of time
here, but I also at some point want to talk to you about the
Child and Adult Care Food Program and trying to get more places
online there, because as you know, that is also a place where
we want to have nutritional standards set and I am working on
some legislation in that area. Thank you very much.
Senator Harkin. [Presiding.] Thank you.
Senator Gillibrand, we are on the last part of the first
vote and we have two votes, so please proceed.
Senator Gillibrand. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for
holding this hearing. I am very grateful to you and Senator
Lincoln for your leadership on this issue.
Thank you, Secretary, for being here and for your
leadership on these issues.
Some of the things that I am most focused on right now is
the high obesity rates in America. We spend about $100 billion
a year on obesity. And when I was a kid, only about five
percent of children were obese, and now it is higher than 17
percent. So this is a grave national health care issue that has
to be addressed.
Some of the best ideas that have been developed through
your leadership through the hearing are feeding our children
better foods. One thing that I have advocated for is a 70-cent
increase for school lunches. That 70-cent increase would allow
for more whole foods, more whole grains, more fruits, more
vegetables. We could feed our children better foods.
Second, we want to keep our kids more active, fun programs
that get them being athletic, being outside, making sure all
schools have an hour of P. E. or gym time. Teaching kids about
nutrition--most kids don't understand about nutrition, making
that part of the school curriculum. And banning trans-fats,
just banning them across the board in all schools. We have some
leadership in New York, in New York City, where they have
already done that quite successfully.
Another issue we have in high-cost States like New York is
we would also like to see more people eligible, which you
addressed in your opening remarks, both for breakfast and
lunches. But one thing, because our State is such a high-cost
State, a lot of working families can't afford good quality
lunches for their kids, and so if we could increase the
eligibility rate based on HUD's rental scheme, you would
actually be able to get more children in, to maybe about
$40,000 for a family of four income level. So that is another
area of interest that I have that I hope you will pursue and
look at.
And then my third area of concern is food safety. I have
begun looking at this issue. I am very concerned about lack of
testing for E. coli, for example, in hamburger meat before it
is ground up. I am very concerned about the lack of
notification. If foods are recalled, our schools are not even
notified that a food has been recalled in a grocery store or in
the national media. So our schools need far more information,
and our parents have no information whatsoever about where our
food comes from.
In particular, there is an article today in USA Today that
I hope you study, because it is a very concerning article that
brings some significant evidence to bear on this topic. First
of all, they report that between 1998 and 2007, the data that
they have been able to collect shows 470 outbreaks where 23,000
children were made sick. And some of the examples they use are
where there was evidence that the FDA knew about that a certain
producer or provider of food had unsanitary habits, had made
children sick in the past, and that information never got to
the school districts, never got to the parents.
So I would like you to address that issue today in our
time. Given the complex task of assuring food safety, and it is
shared jointly by the USDA and the FDA, can you please
elaborate on the steps you are taking to ensure better
coordination between your agency dealing with the food safety
and the Food and Drug Administration? I have heard reports that
the FDA has delayed finalizing an MOU with the Food and
Nutrition Service, so I would like you to discuss some of the
problems you may face there.
And second, can you also talk about the steps that the USDA
has taken to help schools increase transparency about what
items are being served to students so parents can be more
involved in planning menus and the development of those menus?
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, thank you for raising the issue
of food safety. I know that is of particular interest to you
and I appreciate you addressing this. It is a deep concern for
us at USDA. It is the reason why we encouraged the President
and were encouraged by the President's establishment of the
Food Safety Working Group that involved myself and Secretary
Sebelius as the Co-Chairs.
As a result of that Food Safety Working Group, whose work
is still ongoing, there have already been a number of steps
taken to try to address the issues raised in the article that
you mentioned.
First of all, as it relates to ground beef specifically, we
have started a process of encouraging the testing of bench trim
that goes into ground beef, which was not done before, which we
think will help reduce E. coli in ground beef. We are also
focused on salmonella in poultry and increasing and enhancing
our roles in that respect. We are increasing worker training.
We are also working on a unified incident command system
and structure. We understand and appreciate that there has been
a lack of communication between the two agencies and a gap in
communication, which results in school districts not getting
information on a timely basis. We are addressing that with this
unified incident command structure and system. We also
appreciate the need for us to get information to parents as
quickly as possible, which is why we are exploring the
utilization of the social marketing techniques, Facebook,
Twitter, and the like, to try to get messages out as quickly
and as effectively and as correctly as possible.
Now, we are instituting within USDA, as it relates to our
portfolio of food safety issues, a series of initiatives. We
have developed a hold and recall procedure for foods procured
by USDA for the National School Lunch Program. We have got a
commodity complaint system in place that has been added to our
electronic commodity ordering system. We have a rapid alert
system to quickly notify program operators of food safety
issues. We are utilizing that electronic commodity ordering
system to announce recalls of non-USDA commodities.
We are implementing a food safety program developed in part
on our HACCP principles. In fact, school districts are the only
retail outlet, if you will, that is currently operating under
HACCP principles. As you know, we are requiring safety
inspections within schools, two a year. We are now at 70
percent participation. We want to get to 100 percent. We are
instituting a public notification system that allows
individuals to receive bulletins of significance, especially
recalls affecting USDA commodities.
So there is an awful lot of activity emanating from the
Working Group. We are very focused on this. Staff knows that
this is another priority area of ours, and so I can assure you
that we are going to try to do better than we have done.
Senator Gillibrand. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I will go
vote and come back. Thank you.
Senator Chambliss. [Presiding.] Mr. Secretary, the number
of members attending has absolutely nothing to do with the
quality of your testimony----
[Laughter.]
Senator Chambliss. --and everything to do with this vote
that is going on. We are going to try to keep going here.
First, I would ask unanimous consent that the testimony of
Kraig R. Naasz, the President and CEO of the American Frozen
Food Institute, be inserted into the record.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Naasz can be found on page
98 in the appendix.]
Senator Chambliss. Mr. Secretary, in regard to your
recommendation that schools be required to share information
about the content of their meals, are you suggesting that
schools post this information in the cafeteria, similar to the
legislation that we are considering where restaurants are going
to be required or may be required to post information relative
to items on the menus, or what exactly are you talking about
here with regard to the information provided?
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, what we are trying to do is to
try to engage in a more meaningful way parents, so that parents
are informed and are up to speed with what is happening in
school. Virtually every school that I am aware of, I suspect
has either a newsletter or a website or a combination of some
kind of method by which they communicate with parents. Our
suggestion is that we utilize those communication techniques to
let parents know precisely what is taking place relative to the
nutritional value of what their children have access to in the
hope that they will either support the school in increasing and
enhancing nutrition, or acknowledge that the school has made
efforts to increase nutrition or support that at home, as well.
We think the more education, the more information people have,
the more informed choices they will make, and the better
choices they will make.
[Pause.]
Secretary Vilsack. Senator, if I could add just one other
comment on the issue of information----
Senator Chambliss. Sure.
Secretary Vilsack. This is a consistent theme throughout
the various programs that we are administering. We are working
very hard to encourage SNAP recipients, for example, to have
more information available to them about the nutritional value
of certain food products, and we see in some grocery stores
around the country a real concerted effort to inform the
customers. In my home State, the Hy-Vee Food Chain, for
example, is currently assessing a nutritional value, a
numerical value to virtually everything that they are going to
sell in their grocery store so that people can then make an
informed choice. They started, I believe, in the cereal area,
and what they found was that when they did that, that shredded
wheat sales went significantly higher than they had
anticipated. So it is really about informing folks so they can
make the right set of choices.
Senator Chambliss. It is interesting that people are
starting to pay more attention to what is on the side of those
boxes now, so that is encouraging.
Secretary Vilsack. I think we are all very sensitive to
health care costs, and as Senator Harkin suggested, one way you
can bend that health care cost curve is to have prevention and
wellness, and that requires better nutrition and more physical
activity.
Senator Chambliss. Mr. Secretary, we are going to go ahead
and move on. I know you are extremely busy and we don't need to
keep you here. If anybody does have any questions, the record
will be held open and they can submit those questions to you in
writing. Thanks for your willingness to come up and provide
information on these issues that are so critical to your
functioning as the Secretary, but from a policy standpoint to
aid us. So thank you very much.
We will now move to the second panel. To the members of
this panel, thank you for taking your time to come up and visit
with us today. Welcome to the Senate Agriculture Committee. We
look forward to hearing your testimony.
First of all, we have Dr. Margaret Bogle, Executive
Director, Delta Obesity Prevention Research Unit, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, from
Little Rock, Arkansas. Dr. Bogle, welcome.
Mr. Rich Huddleston, Executive Director, Arkansas Advocates
for Children and Families in Little Rock. Welcome to you, Mr.
Huddleston.
Ms. Rhonda Sanders, Executive Director, Arkansas Hunger
Relief Alliance, also from Little Rock.
And Ms. Jennifer Smith, Director of Compliance, Wal-Mart,
Bentonville, Arkansas. Ms. Smith, welcome to you.
Dr. Bogle, we will start with you for your presentation,
and Mr. Huddleston, we will go right down the line there upon
completion by Dr. Bogle.
STATEMENT OF MARGARET BOGLE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DELTA OBESITY
PREVENTION RESEARCH UNIT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
Ms. Bogle. Chairman Lincoln, Ranking Member Chambliss, and
other members of the committee, my name is Margaret Bogle. I am
a nutrition scientist with ARS located in Little Rock. I want
to thank you for this opportunity to come before you today to
discuss reauthorization of the U.S. Child Nutrition Programs.
My hope is the relating of my experiences in the lower
Mississippi Delta of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi,
working with families, rural communities, and schools, public
and not-for-profit agencies will enhance your discussion of the
USDA Child Nutrition Programs. These are complex issues which
have already been described this morning, but they require the
innovative efforts of our government working in collaboration
with individual citizens, families, communities, farmers, food
processors, and manufacturers, and educational [inaudible] at
all levels. My goal is to set the stage with an introduction to
the nature of good nutrition and healthy lifestyles for
families and children so that the rest of the panel can present
their views of the role of policy changes, child advocacy, and
recommendations for the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition
Programs.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and First Lady of the
United States Michelle Obama have taken a leadership role in
recent months with the example and message of healthy eating as
it relates to the health and well-being of our children and
young people. The First Lady's White House Garden, the People's
Garden at USDA, and the joint USDA-White House effort to
promote the Healthier U.S. Schools Challenge clearly shows that
our senior leadership understands the importance of healthy
eating and physical activity for children and has made it a
priority.
An ongoing concern is that almost one-third of our children
are overweight and at risk of becoming obese. We know that
obese children have much greater risks of becoming obese adults
than those children who maintain healthy weight patterns,
making them much more susceptible to various chronic diseases,
such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Overweight children in many instances are not physically able
to participate in vigorous physical activity with their peers
and are often subject to ridicule or even bullying. This can
lead to more serious emotional problems and may contribute to
additional overeating, which exacerbates the original problem.
Another question is whether or not some children are
getting enough to eat. Food security studies for 2008 released
just yesterday and already entered into the record today
indicate that approximately 15 percent, or 17 million
households, were food insecure at some time during the year,
which is an increase of four percent from 2007. And the
negative influences of food insecurity on children's health are
included in my written comments.
Children who do not eat breakfast have lower scores in
school, more tardiness, and increased rates of absenteeism than
their counterparts who do eat breakfast, again, showing that
the School Breakfast Program makes a contribution not only to
the health of the children, but also makes it possible for them
to take advantage of the education provided at school. All
children should be encouraged to eat breakfast. Children who
get a healthy breakfast are less likely to be overweight.
The USDA Child Nutrition Programs have the potential to
impact over 31 million school children and thereby improve
access to healthy, nutritious foods during an average school
day. For many children in the Delta, the food eaten as snacks
and meals at school may account for as much as 75 percent or
more of their total intake for the day.
Recent reports from the Institute of Medicine, the American
Academy of Pediatrics, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
have recognized that environmental factors affect individual
behaviors related to food and physical activity. In many
communities, for example, fresh produce is simply not available
or affordable. Streets and parks are not amenable to exercise.
And policies and economic choices make fast food cheaper and
more convenient than healthier alternatives. Communities have
made efforts to improve these factors in diverse settings and
with diverse populations, resulting in many promising
approaches.
The Agriculture Research Service has been collaborating
with scientists in a tri-State region to improve the health of
at-risk rural populations in the lower Mississippi Delta, where
the prevalence of nutrition-related chronic diseases, including
obesity, is much higher than in the rest of the United States.
ARS is coordinating this research with the 1890 Land Grant
Universities and an additional university in Arkansas,
Louisiana, and Mississippi. The prevalence of many nutrition-
related health problems is greater for minority, rural, and
low-socioeconomic groups which have led to the designation of
at-risk populations.
The Delta is one of the regions of the U.S. which clearly
exemplifies the designation of at-risk and has great potential
for USDA and ARS and other governmental agencies to study the
effects of nutrition and health strategies, including the
effects of Child Nutrition Programs related to improving the
lifestyle and the prevention of obesity. The ability of ARS to
engage in long-term research is particularly appropriate.
Additional details of our research are included in my written
comments.
We know that in the Delta, as in much of the U.S., children
and their families are not following the U.S. Dietary
Guidelines for Americans, which are positioned to provide
recommendations for a healthier lifestyle. As compared to the
recommendations, they are eating fewer servings of fruits and
vegetables, more refined grain and fewer whole grains, more
high-fat dairy and high-fat meats, more discretionary calories,
especially sugar, and they are not exercising up to the
recommendations of the dietary guidelines.
Many children in the Delta have not experienced a wide
variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and are less likely to
eat new fruits and vegetables when seen for the first time.
This underscores the need for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable
Program in every school.
My testimony is intended to show the breadth of the problem
as well as suggest some solutions that are working and some
that are still being tested. The most important thing we can do
is to begin to involve children, families, and communities in
being part of the solution, and I am happy to report that is
beginning to happen, the most important of which is that, as a
nation, we must begin to put nutrition in its rightful place as
regards to health and health care in the United States.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to
discuss the reauthorization of Child Nutrition Programs, and I
look forward to answering questions that you may have after the
rest of the panel's testimony. Thank you, Senator Chambliss.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Bogle can be found on page
57 in the appendix.]
Senator Chambliss. Thank you very much.
Mr. Huddleston.
STATEMENT OF RICH HUDDLESTON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ARKANSAS
ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
Mr. Huddleston. Thank you, Senator Chambliss. My name is
Rich Huddleston. I am with Arkansas Advocates for Children and
Families. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan child advocacy
organization. Our mission is to ensure that all children and
families have the resources and opportunities they need to lead
healthy and productive lives and realize their full potential.
Even though she is out of the room, I did want to
congratulate Madam Chairman Lincoln for taking over the reins
of this committee and to say how proud we are back home to have
such a strong leader in helping vulnerable children and
families.
Let me start by painting a picture of poverty in Arkansas.
One in four Arkansas children is poor. Arkansas ranks among the
four worst States nationally----
Senator Chambliss. She is back now, so you can say nice
things about her again.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Huddleston. Arkansas ranks among the four worst States
nationally in overall poverty, with roughly one in six
residents living in poverty. No matter how hard they work,
fully half of all Arkansans don't make enough to fully support
themselves, and the current economic crisis is not making
things any easier.
Nationally, about six million households with children
struggle against hunger. Children in these households also tend
to have poorer health outcomes and face barriers which make it
difficult for them to succeed in school and become productive
workers and adults. One of the best things Congress can do to
support struggling children is to strengthen the Child
Nutrition Programs when it reauthorizes them this year. These
programs have extraordinary reach. More than 31 million
children eat a meal provided through the School Lunch Program
on a typical day. By providing nutritious meals to children and
making it easier for low-income families to make ends meet, the
School Meals Programs reduce poverty and food insecurity and
shrink the educational achievement gap for our most
disadvantaged children.
Unfortunately, millions of children who qualify for free
school meals don't receive them. When Congress reauthorized the
Child Nutrition Programs in 2004, it required school districts
to use direct certification to automatically enroll school-age
children in households that receive Food Stamps. But not all
districts conduct direct certification equally effectively. The
USDA estimates that 3.5 million out of the ten million children
who were eligible for direct certification at the start of the
2008-2009 school year weren't directly certified.
Our goal should be to automatically enroll every single
child who is eligible for free meals in a timely manner.
Working toward this goal will bring about three important
benefits. First, needy children will get the food they need and
their parents won't have to complete duplicate paperwork.
Second, program integrity will be strengthened as schools
rely on data that have already been scrubbed by other means-
tested programs instead of the paper-based applications that
are prone to errors. This will help ensure that taxpayer
dollars are spent wisely.
Third, schools will have a lower administrative burden,
which will free up resources they can use to provide healthier
meals or to enrich academic opportunities.
I am going to discuss two ways in which Congress can
improve access to free school meals. The first is to allow
schools with large concentrations of poor students to serve
free meals to all of their students rather than spend time
identifying the very small number who don't qualify. The
school's Federal reimbursements would be based on the results
of direct certification. If a school directly certifies more
than 40 percent of its students, generally more than 80 percent
of its students qualify for free or reduced meals anyway. So if
the school agrees to serve all meals free, it shouldn't have to
process applications or check eligibility in the cafeteria.
Nationwide, six million children attend schools where more than
80 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced meals.
The Senate bill that includes this proposal is entitled the
Hunger-Free Schools Act. These schools will be literally
hunger-free spaces. All children will be eligible to eat
breakfast and lunch free of charge. Congress, in short, would
eliminate administrative hurdles that get in the way of
effectively feeding poor children.
The other way in which Congress can improve access to free
school meals is by allowing schools to automatically enroll in
free meals any student receiving Medicaid. This would help
ensure that the poorest children receive free meals regardless
of where they attend school. Children in households receiving
Food Stamps have long been eligible for free school meals. This
makes sense, since these families have already proven that they
have low incomes through the rigorous Food Stamp enrollment
process. The same is true for parents who have enrolled their
children in Medicaid. They shouldn't have to complete a
duplicate application for school meals and schools shouldn't
have to process unnecessary paperwork. Congress should permit
the school systems and States to work directly with Medicaid
agencies to use income data from Medicaid to automatically
enroll children for free school meals. An estimated two million
poor children participate in Medicaid but not Food Stamps.
In conclusion, I know the committee has received many
proposals as part of this reauthorization process, but I
believe the two proposals I have described today offer a big
bang for the buck and thus deserve high priority.
Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to testify
before this committee today.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Huddleston can be found on
page 63 in the appendix.]
Chairman Lincoln. [Presiding.] Thank you.
Ms. Sanders.
STATEMENT OF RHONDA SANDERS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ARKANSAS
HUNGER RELIEF ALLIANCE, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
Ms. Sanders. Chairman Lincoln, Senate Committee members,
staff, and other honored guests, it is an honor to actually be
able to speak to you today concerning childhood hunger and the
Child Nutrition Act. I am the Executive Director of the
Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.
We are an association for the food banks in the State and
for all of the local hunger relief organizations and hunger
advocates. We have over 100 members in the Alliance and over
900 organizations as part of our network. We are truly a united
voice in Arkansas to end hunger. We work to raise the level of
awareness concerning hunger in Arkansas, advocate for public
policy concerning hunger and feeding programs, and to secure
funding. We believe the ability to provide an adequate diet to
all Arkansans requires the collaborative effort of government-
sponsored feeding and nutrition programs, a diverse and capable
charitable food system, a healthy, thriving private sector, and
strong public policies that support moving families from
poverty to self-sufficiency.
This morning, I just want to address three specific areas
about childhood hunger: Briefly, the state of childhood hunger
in Arkansas; childhood hunger related to health and obesity;
and finally, some of the gaps that are in the provision of
nutritional services to children.
Arkansas is a low-income rural State. Fifteen-point-nine
percent of our households in Arkansas are food insecure. Over
half of the 464,000 public schoolchildren in Arkansas receive
free or reduced-price lunch. The Feeding America Food Banks
that are part of the Alliance serve over 300,000 people a year.
Of these 300,000, approximately 40 percent of them are
children.
We are, as you mentioned earlier, currently ranked third in
the nation for the highest incidence of hunger. It is a reality
for many of the people in our State that they live with daily,
wondering where their next meal will come from. We have seen
this rate of food insecurity increase, and it has actually
played its way out in recent studies that the Arkansas
Children's Hospital has been a part of through the Child Health
Watch Program that has shown a drastic increase in the number
of children reporting to the ER that are suffering from food
insecurity. It has jumped from last year at 10.7 percent all
the way up to 2008, it jumped up to 22.2 percent reporting
incidences of hunger. These are extreme increases.
We know that Arkansas is not the only State in the nation
struggling with poverty, poor health outcomes, and low
educational attainment, but we do know that hunger is a direct
contributor to each one of these. But hunger is a curable
problem.
Thanks to research of many organizations, like Feeding
America, FRAC, Robert Wood Johnson, we have shown that there is
a clear correlation between hunger and poor health outcomes and
hunger and obesity. It is rather startling when you read some
of the numbers from studies that show that toddlers who have
suffered from food insufficiency at any point in time before
their fourth birthday are 3.4 times more likely to be obese at
4.5 years. Those are rather startling facts when you consider
that the families most likely to suffer from food insecurity
are those with young children who are trying to make ends meet
and getting their careers and their lives started.
So it is very clear that there are things that we need to
do in addressing the overall health outcomes of children who
may suffer from food insecurity. Government-sponsored programs
like School Lunch, Breakfast, WIC, After School, and Summer
Food clearly have a role to play, and it is important for us to
expand access, make it available, and also to keep high
nutritional standards for these programs, nutritional standards
like the ones that Senator Harkin has recommended for all
school foods.
In Arkansas, we have been fortunate to do some of that.
Thanks to legislation in 2003, I was able to be on that
committee and we worked to set some very high nutritional
standards for all foods in the State that are provided in the
school. It has been very successful and Arkansas has been the
only State in the nation to halt the progression of obesity
amongst their children. Now, while these things weren't
directed specifically at hunger children, the effect is the
same. Hunger children need nutritionally high items to eat as
much as any other child needs.
I want to touch very briefly on some things that the
Charitable Food System is actively involved in and some ways
that we can help all programs. The Charitable Food System is
involved in many ways with After School and with Summer
Feeding. Those programs need to be streamlined. They can often
be difficult to manage. The After School Program that was
mentioned earlier, where after school suppers are provided in
14 of the States, that should be looked at being expanded to
where all States have access to do that.
But finally, the one Charitable Food program that food
banks are involved in throughout the nation that has no Federal
support is the Backpack Program. This program was actually
initiated in Arkansas with a school nurse that called one of
the local food banks and said, you know, we are getting
children in here with tummy aches and headaches and they can't
function in their classroom and we finally figured out that it
is because they are hunger. So they started putting together
backpacks of food. These items were provided through the food
banking system. They are items that are easy to prepare,
single-serving meals, and they go home with them in a low-
profile backpack on the weekend.
Well, these foods can be expensive and the food banking
system and the Charitable Food System juggles the cost of these
items and the nutritional value that we want to send home with
children on those weekends. This is a program that could
benefit from you looking at some pilot programs to look at ways
to implement this in a cost-effective manner, to
institutionalize this so that it is available to all schools,
because the one issue that we do hear is that there are lines,
there are waiting lists for children who want to get on this
program all over the nation. So it could be a very good way to
bring more food to children on the weekends when they are going
hungry.
I want to close with a story about a Backpack Program from
Jonesboro, Arkansas, from our food bank there. After the food
bank of Northeast Arkansas began a Backpack Program, the
Executive Director did a site visit to one of the schools to
monitor the program's progress. The school counselor shared the
story of a young boy who was so excited to get his first
backpack of food that he sat down in her office and started
going through it right there. He opened up the backpack and
there were two fresh red apples right on top.
He reached in it and with a big smile handed it to the
counselor. The school counselor said, ``Oh, put that back in
your backpack. All of that food is for you. Isn't that
wonderful?'' And his smile kind of faded and she thought, what
is wrong? So she asked him and she was totally unprepared for
her answer. He looked at her and he said, ``But I have never
had anything that was mine to share. I want you to have this
apple.'' So who would have thought that something like giving a
child an apple in a backpack would provide such an opportunity
to that child to be like so many of the other children, to have
the joy of giving and the joy of being a part of something.
So what we are doing in feeding children through the
schools and the things that we are providing them are giving
them so many long-term opportunities to be successful. I
applaud what you have done with the extension to the Child
Nutrition Act. We think that the things that are there will
give us a chance to pilot and to model some opportunities for
the future. I look forward to working with you in any way
possible. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Sanders can be found on page
72 in the appendix.]
Chairman Lincoln. Thank you, Rhonda.
Ms. Smith.
STATEMENT OF JENNIFER SMITH, DIRECTOR OF COMPLIANCE, WAL-MART
STORES, INC., BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS
Ms. Smith. Chairman Lincoln, Ranking Member Chambliss, and
distinguished members of the committee, on behalf of Wal-Mart
and our 140 million weekly customers, I am honored to testify
before you today.
My name is Jennifer Smith and I am the Director of
Regulatory Compliance based at our home office in Bentonville,
Arkansas. I would specifically like to address the WIC program
and two issues we have identified that should be addressed in
the upcoming reauthorization: The program's transition to
Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT, and the importance of
standard operating rules, and the new food packages and the
need for one place where retailers and manufacturers can access
information about all approved foods.
Wal-Mart supports the President's goal of ending childhood
hunger by 2015. We have partnered with the Feeding America
Network to donate food from our locations around the country,
and we expect to donate more than 90 million pounds of food by
the end of 2009.
Possibly the most significant advantage we have is our
ability to source and sell safe and high-quality food products
at the most competitive prices, which helps our customers save
money so they can live better.
We are the largest grocery retailer in the United States,
with stores in many communities, Tribal areas, and all 50
States. We are currently processing more than four million WIC
transactions on a monthly basis, approximately 400,000 over the
same period last year. As you might imagine, we are looking for
the most efficient way to process WIC transactions while
providing the highest level of customer service to everyone.
First, I would like to address the transition to EBT. The
existing paper voucher system is one of the most complicated,
time consuming, and costly transactions conducted at our point
of sale. The paper transaction process spotlights the WIC
participant, creates confusion, frustration, and sometimes
confrontation between the customer and the cashier, and
requires participants to separate WIC foods from their other
groceries, all potentially adding to the stigma associated with
receipt of these benefits.
Like others in the retail community, we support the
transition of WIC benefits to EBT. The SNAP Program's
transition to EBT has positively impacted the SNAP recipients'
shopping experience, retailer efficiencies, and fraud
reduction. We are eager to see these same positive outcomes for
the WIC Program. We believe that standardization of WIC EBT
will help bring efficiency to the transactions and help create
administrative savings for the program that could be redirected
to provide more WIC benefits to those in need.
While it is important to allow for technological innovation
and creativity, there are times when all relevant stakeholders
should coalesce around a common set of technical standards to
ensure a successful implementation. The USDA FNS should be
commended for beginning work in this regard, and we encourage
the committee to mandate development of one set of technical
standards and operating rules for WIC EBT in the upcoming
reauthorization. In 2002, Congress addressed the need for
similar standardization with the SNAP EBT.
Wal-Mart has participated in WIC EBT developments with
several States involving the two prevailing technologies, the
Smart Card, or offline approach, and the online magstripe
approach. After testing and implementing both technologies, we
can say with confidence that the Smart Card technology has been
the best performing WIC EBT system to date.
When Congress issued the initial EBT mandate for SNAP, it
was not conditioned on interoperability. This created
problems in places like Washington, DC, New York City, and
Southern Ohio, where SNAP recipients commonly shop outside
their home States. We believe the ability to use and to accept
WIC EBT cards at any WIC authorized retail location in any
State goes hand-in-hand with standardization. Without
standardization and interoperability, we believe there would be
an unnecessary increase in State and retail costs and
unnecessary restrictions placed on the shopping options of WIC
participants. In addition, interoperability would be essential
in times of natural disaster, when WIC participants are
displaced from their home States.
Second, I would like to address the new food packages.
While we supported the modernization of the packages, it is
important to note that the former packages had only about 500
approved food items. The new packages have approximately 12,000
items to date. Given the added complexity, it would be helpful
if there were a centralized resource identifying all eligible
products under the program. This would help retailers meet
their obligations as WIC vendors to stock the required WIC-
approved foods.
We have heard from our suppliers and others in the retail
community that there is a significant need for a universal set
of guidelines or criteria that WIC authorities could use to
approve products for the program. We would support a provision
in the upcoming reauthorization that authorizes and funds the
development of a centralized database within USDA to manage a
list of all eligible products under the program and make
universal criteria used to approve products for the program
available to retailers and manufacturers.
In closing, I would like to thank you for the opportunity
to testify here today. Congress has an unprecedented
opportunity to bring uniformity and standard operating rules to
the program, which will bring costs down, improve program
efficiencies, and help simplify the shopping trip for moms. The
retail community looks forward to working with you on the
upcoming Child Nutrition reauthorization legislation.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Smith can be found on page
78 in the appendix.]
Chairman Lincoln. Thank you. Thanks to all of you.
In deference to my colleague, I know he has got somewhere
he has to be, so I would like to turn to him first for any
questions he may have of you all and then we will continue.
Senator Chambliss.
Senator Chambliss. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I appreciate
your indulgence and your cooperation, as always.
All of you have given us good practical issues to look at,
and very honestly, you have given us some very good practical
solutions to those issues, and I am appreciative of the way you
all have delved into this issue. In fact, Ms. Smith, you just
answered my question that I was going to ask you relative to
some of the practicalities of the WIC program. And, gosh, going
from 500 to 12,000 items, I can see we have got a little work
we have got to do there. Your suggestion, I think, is well
taken.
Dr. Bogle, as you know, childhood obesity rates are
staggering. Of course, the problem is beginning more and more
at earlier ages now. The rate of obesity for children entering
kindergarten seems to be the same it is when they complete
kindergarten, if I remember my numbers right. In your research,
have you found any effective interventions aimed at parents and
caregivers to help them be more aware of childhood obesity
issues as well as providing tools to help prevent or reverse
this in the home?
Ms. Bogle. Thank you, Senator Chambliss. We are working on
that, absolutely. And the one comment I wanted to make in
regard to other things that have been said, you know, it is not
just the schools. It is the families, and particularly when we
talk about these preschool children, many of them are not
enrolled in school programs where they might get information
and parents might get information about better feeding choices.
In reference to what Rhonda just said about the preschool
kids and the increase in obesity in the zero to three, part of
that problem is the fact that for those children, the source of
calories for them oftentimes--most of the time--are foods that
do not have or are not high in nutritional quality--heap
calories, both fat and sugar-related items, but not other
items.
For instance, it is very difficult for families in rural
areas, low-income families, to find ways of preparing fruits
and vegetables for their children--in the zero to three, I am
talking now--unless they are just buying the baby foods, the
commercial foods that are already on the market, which are more
expensive than they would be if they were using some of the
foods that the rest of the family is eating. But it is more
difficult to get that job done.
I think, unequivocally, what we are seeing in the rural
communities, and that is where I have spent most of my time so
that is what I will talk about, is the involvement of families,
particularly grandparents. Now, in the Delta, we have a lot of
grandparents that are raising grandchildren and they are living
in these rural areas again and they are becoming one of the
biggest advocates for the prevention of obesity of not only
their grandchildren, but great-grandchildren and others to
come. So we think that part of what we are seeing is if we can
involve the schools, the communities, agencies within the
communities, families, even extended families, and the children
themselves when they are old enough to know what we are trying
to tell them about, is the best way to go, because it is not
just a single item. It is a very complex issue.
For instance, this whole idea of physical activity, I know
a lot of people think that those of us who live in rural areas
just have ready access to all kinds of physical activity, but
it is not the case anymore. It is very unsafe in many areas for
children to even play outside their homes. So we are not just
talking about the lack of exercise facilities, but we are
talking about the safety of areas where they might exercise.
So I think that the other thing we are seeing is that
different segments of the society--and we know from the report
released yesterday on food insecurity that there are groups
within our society that are at higher risk of food insecurity--
those same groups, it turns out, are at higher risk of obesity
for their children. Some of that is cultural, and so we must
begin to make some kind of efforts to inform our citizenry
about some of the differences in culture and health issues for
their children. So that is really what we are trying to work on
in the Delta.
Senator Chambliss. I am glad to hear you say that the
adults that participate in your study are becoming more
cognizant of the way food is prepared, because I am sure
Arkansas is very much like Georgia, and I live in a rural part
of our State. If there is any question about how to prepare it,
you batter it and you deep fry it----
[Laughter.]
Senator Chambliss. --and it is pretty darn good, whatever
it is----
Ms. Bogle. It is tasty----
[Laughter.]
Senator Chambliss. --but it is probably not the healthiest
way to prepare it, so that is encouraging.
Well, I want to thank all of you for your testimony and we
look forward to staying in touch and dialoguing with you as we
go through this reauthorization next year.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Chairman Lincoln. Absolutely. Well, a special thanks to
Senator Chambliss for covering as the votes were going on and
certainly for working with us on this critical issue. He is
always there, and he and his staff both are wonderful to work
with, so I am grateful to him.
I want to take my personal time here to be able to welcome
you all to the committee and, again, your voices in this very
critical issue that we face in terms of child nutrition and
really getting it right. We know that we have to start at an
early age and it is not just what we put in front of them, but
it is what we teach them, and that is critical.
So, Dr. Bogle, thank you for all of your work as Executive
Director of the Lower Mississippi Delta Obesity Prevention
Research Unit. You all do tremendous work there, not only in
terms of what children eat, but also looking at how we can
teach them so many other things.
We are so very grateful to Rich Huddleston, whose
tremendous years of service to children across the State of
Arkansas, now as Executive Director of the Arkansas Advocates
for Children and Families. You have just been a great resource
to me and I am grateful for all of your hard work and the
things that you have done.
Rhonda with our Hunger Alliance, we appreciate--I should
say Ms. Sanders, sorry--for all your work with the Hunger
Alliance and what it means. Those Backpack Programs, listening
to those stories is unbelievably meaningful, and to see what it
has meant in the lives of those children and to think that it
was just from a school nurse who really thought that there has
got to be a better way to help these kids over the weekend, and
when our Hunger Alliance and our food banks came to the rescue
and said there is a better way, we are going to work and we are
going to work to improve upon it. So we are grateful to you
all.
And Ms. Smith, thank you, because Wal-Mart does a wonderful
job, not only in our communities in providing for our families
a way to--and a very economical way to provide for families,
but they also share their information with us in helping to
figure out a better way to get families what they need. The
information that you all have in terms of the customers that
you serve is really critical for us in getting it right and
making it a simpler process and one with integrity and respect,
and that is so critical, as we all know. We are all put on this
earth to look after one another and there is a right way and a
wrong way to do that, and without a doubt, the respect is a
critical part of what we want to do here in the committee as we
design these programs for our fellow man, and particularly for
our children.
So I appreciate it and am particularly proud that this
panel is here today and feel like you have already offered a
great resource in terms of your knowledge, but look forward to
continuing to work with you.
Chairman Harkin did a tremendous job, along with the staff,
in really teeing up what we need to do on child nutrition and
we are looking forward to bringing that to fruition in the bill
shortly after the new year so that we can move forward and
really get down to the business of what we want to do, and that
is making sure that our children are healthy in this country.
Just a couple of questions, if I may. Dr. Bogle, in your
testimony, you note that food insecurity can have a negative
impact on academic performance. Children that don't eat
breakfast have lower scores in school. It is why so many of our
schools are providing food for children on days when it is
standardized testing. But without a doubt, with those Breakfast
Programs, it is important for us to be creative and inventive
in making sure that children have good nutrition in the
mornings and making sure that there is a way that they can get
it. I have got teenage boys now, and they don't like to get out
of bed in the morning, so we need to make sure that it is
something that is deliverable to children.
But what about the relationship between poor diet,
especially overweight and obesity, and academic performance? Do
we have any research that conclusively demonstrates that poor
diet or obesity also contributes to low test scores? Is there
anything, whether it deals with both the diet and the health of
the child or the self-esteem?
Ms. Bogle. Senator Lincoln, I am not sure that there is a
body of research out there specifically dealing with the
academic performance of obese children. It is certainly an area
that needs some research and looking at. I think in many ways,
the obese child has been ignored, more or less, in this whole
health issue while professionals like myself fussed about
whether obesity was a disease or wasn't a disease.
So I am not sure that there is, but I will tell you this.
Arkansas is in a good position to give you some information
about that based on the BMI studies that they have in the
State, and I am sure that Dr. Thompson would be willing to give
us that information and I will get that back to you.
But just one brief thing is this. We do know about the
extreme connection between obesity and health. So we don't
really have to look for a lot of other reasons until you study
whether or not the obesity makes a difference in the academic
scores. We know that the unhealthy children don't do as well.
Chairman Lincoln. But it gives us, I think, an added
advantage of being able to seek out the solutions to that
issue, because there are multiple effects, obviously.
Ms. Bogle. Right.
Chairman Lincoln. Obviously, health, but without a doubt,
if it is absenteeism or if it is low self-esteem that is
causing those poor grades, that is yet one more thing that we
could correct, I hope, in terms of addressing obesity through
better nutrition.
Ms. Bogle. I agree.
Chairman Lincoln. I also appreciate your discussion of the
environmental factors that constrain or contribute to
individual behaviors regarding food and physical activity
choices. When we talk about helping people make good choices,
we need to understand that their choices themselves are often
limited by outside factors. I know when my husband and I left
Little Rock the other day headed to Lee County, we stopped in
Brinkley to get some gas, and the boys were hungry and wanted a
snack and we walked into, really, almost the only place there
to get food, and there was plenty of unnutritious food.
I hate to use too many terms, but--and then I noticed on
the counter there was a small bowl that had two rotten bananas
and a small kind of shriveled-up apple, and I realize that what
you have talked about there in terms of access in rural areas,
we call them food deserts. They are something, really, that
both rural areas and inner-city areas share in the fact that it
is much more difficult to find fresh fruits and vegetables and
nutritious foods, and that is something hard for most people to
believe here in Washington.
Those that didn't grow up in rural America, they don't
realize it, because they think rural America is where all those
fresh fruits and vegetables come from, on the farms that are
there. They don't realize that sparse areas sometimes lead
themselves to very few availabilities in terms of the kind of
nutritious foods that we want and need.
Maybe you might just touch on our need to understand that
the choices themselves there are almost limited, and whether it
be that the nearest supermarket is 30 miles away or the kids
can't walk to school--you mentioned a little bit about the
safety of it--but is there something there? Can we talk a
little bit about how you coordinate your research with other
Federal agencies that also have a role in health promotion
policy, exercise, and other things? Do you think there are
additional steps or actions that the government could take to
coordinate those policies across programs and agencies?
Ms. Bogle. I will say two things to that. Certainly, you
have described the one place that I know in Brinkley to eat----
[Laughter.]
Ms. Bogle. The catfish is really good, but you can only get
it fried.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Bogle. But there are other issues there where most
folks don't understand that we don't have a Wal-Mart Super
Center in every rural community in Arkansas, Louisiana, or
Mississippi, which would be great. And so it gets down to sort
of mom-and-pop stores, and when you go in--and we do this on a
frequent basis--the quality of the fruits and vegetables are
not--the fresh ones--what they should be, the reason being, of
course, that they have been trucked long distances and then
they sit there because it is expensive for that store owner to
buy in the first place, so he is going to let them lay there as
long as he hopes to sell them, I guess.
And so it drives us many times to say, well, if not fresh
fruits and vegetables, let us look at canned or frozen. And
some people don't understand that when we recommend canned and
frozen fruits and vegetables, but certainly that is better than
just eating the fried things that may be more available.
As to the cooperation at the Federal level or at the State
levels, Secretary Vilsack mentioned earlier the efforts that
are going on here between the Department of Education, the
Department of Defense, and the Department of Agriculture. I
think that is all very good. And, of course, he is really
stepping up to the plate with his economic development. I have
always maintained that nutrition had an economic development
arm. We just need to promote it more.
I think that if we teach the families in these rural
communities to each more fresh fruits and vegetables and the
little mom-and-pop stores provide them, the families will buy
them and it would be a win-win situation for both of them. But
it is going to take the cooperation of a lot of different
agencies and a lot of different folks in all communities to get
that done.
Chairman Lincoln. Is there any one or several interventions
or sets of interventions that you feel have had the biggest
impact on the health of the participants, or would you feel
like had the most promise for replication elsewhere? Is there
any one thing that comes to mind?
Ms. Bogle. I would just mention two. One, we developed, in
addition to a food choice testing to see whether or not young
children in an elementary school in Mississippi would even try
fresh fruits and vegetables that they did not know or weren't
accustomed to, we associated that with the development of a
soccer team, or soccer teams in that elementary school for the
kindergarten through third grade, now realizing, again, that is
an area where the children don't normally participate in
organized physical activity. And they didn't know what soccer
was in this school, of course, or what kind of a ball to use.
But to make a long story short, they loved it. And when we
left there, when the research was over--and to us, this is the
gratifying thing, that if we can do some research that is
sustainable in those communities once we leave, then we know we
are on the right track. But they incorporated the soccer
program into their elementary school program as we left, and
more and more children are getting the benefit of that.
It also made a difference in their school lunch in that as
we were doing the research to see whether or not the children
would actually try these fresh fruits and vegetables, we used
that in conjunction with the School Lunch Program and the Snack
Program so that they were able to see that just minor changes
in what they were doing and involving some women from the
community and helping to get them prepared would make a
difference for those children.
Chairman Lincoln. So coordinating those activities, those
sports with the feeding programs. I know that has been
something that we have really looked at in the Summer Feeding
Program because it is so difficult to implement those programs.
Ms. Bogle. They need--so far as obesity is concerned, it is
going to take both, you know, physical activity and good
nutrition.
Chairman Lincoln. Exactly. Well, thank you so much, Dr.
Bogle.
Rich, thank you for being here. We appreciate so much what
you have done. You are very positive on the actions of this
committee that was led by Chairman Cochran and that he took in
2004 when it required the State Child Nutrition Agencies to
directly certify for school meals children who are already
participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Some people forget what SNAP is, so we kind of like to word it
out there a time or two.
But your testimony also notes that of the ten million
children eligible for direct certification in the 2008-2009
school year, only 6.5 million of them were directly certified.
Can you provide the committee some explanation as to why so
many children were missing out on that direct certification?
And when it is supposed to be--I mean, it is supposed to be an
automatic process, I mean, why are we missing so many? And can
you also make some suggestions as to how we can improve that
State performance in direct certification?
Mr. Huddleston. Sure. Well, the good news is that USDA has
done some very helpful research to identify these factors and
to really offer some positive solutions. I mean, one of their
findings was that the most effective way to really reach kids
through direct certification is for the Food Stamp office and
food districts to use computer matches. And believe it or not,
there are still a lot of States out there who are trying to do
direct certification, but basically what happens is that
instead of doing a computer match, the Food Stamp agency will
send paper applications to the homes of their Food Stamp
recipients and ask the parent to fill it out and then return it
to the school. Well, that really kind of defeats part of the
advantages of doing direct certification, when you have access
to computers.
The second suggestion they had was to do these matches more
than once during the year, because obviously families become
poor after kids start the school year. And so we may be missing
kids if we don't do matches more often. I mean, so that was
another suggestion they had.
And then finally, it is really important for States that
aren't doing well here to really kind of consciously step back,
sit down and look at the reasons why they are not reaching kids
through direct certification. I mean, it is real important that
they work with USDA to really figure out these reasons, and
believe it or not, State agencies get busy sometimes and they
don't have the time or don't make the time to really kind of
sit back and do that kind of analysis.
I think the good news is that for low-performing States,
Congress provided in the 2010 Agricultural appropriations law
some grants for low-performing States that really should help
motivate States to identify improvements and provide them with
the resources to implement these improvements.
The Hunger-Free Schools Act, which is obviously still not
law yet, includes other provisions that would help improve
direct certification. It would include bonuses for States that
are performing especially well or that show significant
improvement. It would also require States that don't perform
well to write and implement improvement plans.
So there are things that States can do already and there
are steps coming down the road that could also improve the
ability of States to be effective here.
Chairman Lincoln. So incentivizing them is helpful, it
sounds like.
Mr. Huddleston. Yes.
Chairman Lincoln. You mentioned a proposal that would allow
schools in high-poverty areas to just offer free meals to all
students and just skip the regular paper application process.
Could you tell me what that might mean in our State of
Arkansas?
Mr. Huddleston. Sure.
Chairman Lincoln. How many schools would be eligible?
Mr. Huddleston. In Arkansas, there are about 250 schools in
which more than 80 percent of the students are enrolled for
free or reduced meals in those schools. And you add those kids
up, that is about one in five Arkansas students who attends one
of those 250 schools.
Schools that participate in a universal feeding option like
this would see a major reduction in their paperwork. They would
not have to process applications, or they wouldn't have to go
regularly verify eligibility for a sample of the enrolled
students. They wouldn't have to take payments in the cafeteria
or track which students qualify for free meals on a daily
basis. The administrative savings--I mean, the simplifications
would allow school staff to really focus more on either
providing more nutritious meals or on improving their
educational programming.
So this is a real important step that could really be a big
benefit to these schools, and not just to mention from the
perspective of a student. It really would reduce the stigma
that students have to go through on a daily basis. I mean, kids
are very conscious about who is wearing the best tennis shoes
and the best jeans and all that. Well, the flip side of that is
that kids know who is having to fill out paperwork for these
meals. So no student should have to go through that
stigmatizing process in order not to go hungry. Yes.
Chairman Lincoln. Thanks----
Mr. Huddleston. And not to mention the fact that if you did
this, you would reach a lot of students who maybe don't qualify
now, but because if the school was serving all of the students,
you would have folks at 190 percent of poverty, 200 percent of
poverty, 210 percent of poverty who are still struggling to
make ends meet day to day but who would also benefit from free
meals.
Chairman Lincoln. Right. Well, I visited with a school--I
went to the lunchroom with some students in St. Francis County,
which is in East Arkansas, and it was amazing not only to the
stigma that children get, but the position it puts those school
cafeteria workers in when they have to ask a child. They don't
want to do that. They don't want to put that child in that
position. They know what it does to their self-esteem and they
know that it might cause that child to turn and walk away or
not come back to the cafeteria the next day. So, I mean, it is
beneficial for everybody, not just the kids, but the workers,
the community, and certainly the school and being able to
really put their resources where they can be most effective on
behalf of the children.
But thank you for your work. We are so grateful to you.
And, Ms. Sanders, thank you. In your testimony, you
mentioned that our State is a low-income rural State. People,
again, in Washington oftentimes that look at this issue just on
paper have such a hard time understanding that children or
families in rural areas have a difficult time getting
nutritious foods. They think that is where the bounty is. It
comes from rural America. Why is it so difficult for those
families that live in those areas?
But it is not only that you live further from perhaps the
delivery point, which is the grocery store, where you are going
to get the majority of your access, but you also live out in
that country where you are farther away from the human services
agency, certainly the nearest food pantry, which may be
difficult to get to, which is usually in town, not out in those
rural areas and those rural routes.
And your child is going to live farther from the school
that they attend, so they are going to be on a bus. They are
going to be in transit more time than other students, as well.
They may miss the Breakfast Program because it takes them too
long to get to school, or they may miss the after school snack
because they have to leave early enough on the bus to get home.
So those are a lot of other things that factor into that
issue, and I think it is so important for those of us that have
lived out on a county road. We know what those challenges are,
and it is so important for us to remember that because they are
probably those that are more likely to be lower income and in a
greater need.
I just want to ask, knowing that these challenges all exist
in fighting hunger in rural areas, what advice or maybe
recommendations you would give the committee about how we
better address that particular food security need in rural
areas.
Ms. Sanders. That is an interesting question and there are
some things that can be done utilizing the current government
programs that could expand access, especially to children when
they are not in school, which is one of the things that you
mentioned.
For instance, the Summer Feeding Program, an excellent
program, woefully underutilized throughout the nation, and part
of that has to do with some of the ways that we have determined
those meals have to be provided. First of all, they have to be
provided in a congregate setting, which means everyone has to
come there, sit down, and eat. Well, just as you mentioned, in
the rural setting, it is not always easy to do. During the
summertime, those children may not be able to hop in their cars
and drive to the nearest place where they can all sit down
together and eat that meal.
So I think there will be an opportunity to look at some new
ways, some new pilot thoughts on can we maybe take the meals
out more into the rural setting, some different methods of
delivery. And I am hoping that with what you have done through
the extension of the Child Nutrition Act, with some of that
money for pilot thoughts of Summer Feeding, we might be able to
find some pretty significant ways to expand those opportunities
that are outside of that congregate setting that I think affect
rural Arkansas, rurality throughout the nation. Those would be
good opportunities to look at ways to expand those programs.
There is also, when we talk about eligibility to things
like after school meals and summer school programs, currently,
they use the area eligibility indicators of 50 percent on free
or reduced lunch, and then those children are eligible for
after school and summer meals. That could be reduced down to 40
percent. It has been lower than that even previously. But we
could go back to that, which in Arkansas--I think I have
attached the map to my written testimony--would significantly
allow for more areas of the State to be eligible for meals
after school, during the summer, those things like that are
very difficult for rural Arkansas.
As far as for the Charitable Food Systems' involvement,
things like the Backpack Programs or those where when we have
the opportunity that we have the children to send boxes with
them, once again, they are taking it with them. We are not
having to worry about how to get to them. And they are having
access to food, that we can be a part of that through this
system is just a great way. And I know so many of them utilize
the--so many of our pantries and agencies are involved in the
Commodities Program, and those expansions provide lots of
opportunities for families to have assistance with food.
Chairman Lincoln. Well, I think just recognizing that it is
a challenge is important. I know Dr. Bogle had worked on the
aspect of doing almost a circuit rider-type delivery system,
where trucks were going out to those county roads and providing
fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis so that people
knew that there was going to be a food service-type truck
stopping by at a regular time and point where they could
actually get the kind of nutritious foods that they would want
and need in those rural settings if they didn't have access to
being able to drive 30 miles into the nearest town where the
nearest grocery store was. So there is certainly a lot there.
Just one last thing I wanted to ask you. You said that the
data shows that children whose families are food insecure are
more likely to be at risk for overweight and obesity.
Ms. Sanders. Yes.
Chairman Lincoln. You know, that just sounds
counterintuitive. If you live in a household where you don't
know where your next meal is going to come from, you would
think that you would be eating less often, which you would
think would reduce your risk of overweight or obesity. Either
you are food insecure or you are overweight, not both at the
same time.
But what your testimony suggests is just the opposite, and
I think there is more. Not only can you be both food insecure
and overweight, you are more likely to be overweight, and, of
course, a lot of that goes to the types of foods that you eat.
Would you offer maybe some of your insight as to why you
think this is the case, and how do we fight this twin problem
of hunger and obesity?
Ms. Sanders. I think you hit on several of the areas that
we feel like are the cause for this. One is the availability of
quality foods at a price that is affordable to low-income
families. So they are struggling with, I only have so much
money and how do I get those really good foods that are more
expensive.
They are also struggling with--just oftentimes for a young
mom or a caregiver, the emotional impact of dealing with all of
those things that are hitting you at one time. So there have
been some bodies of research and causes that have linked
caregiver depression and the situations that they are in that
are related directly to the child eating things that may not be
the most nutritious for them.
And this data all came from the Children's Health Watch
Project, of which Arkansas is one of the main sites for
gathering information. So it has been very interesting to look
at it and see how it correlates.
As far as to addressing the issue, obviously, increasing
the nutritional packages, such as they have done with WIC and
those programs, the things that we have done through the
schools, through preschool--in Arkansas, as you know, we are
getting a lot of three-and four-year-olds in preschool. So a
lot of the standards that we are looking at for nutritious food
and physical activity fit now within that preschool setting.
And it has been very interesting being--I am also on my
local school board, so I get to hear a lot of the discussions
bouncing back and forth between what the schools can do and
what can be done for the health of children and balancing those
nutritional items and teaching the kids the right way to eat
and involving the parents. And whether people liked it and
enjoyed it, sending the BMI letters home in Arkansas was
awareness raising for the parents to get that in their home. It
was uncomfortable in many aspects. It was hard to deal with.
But once again, you talk about getting some parental
involvement, they became involved at many levels at that point.
So I think the Head Start programs, when you go back to
things that can be done and access to preschool, here you are
once again dealing with three-and four-year-olds. They have got
a strong program, more nutritional education and parental
involvement. Once again, it gets to the sources of those
families of young children that are struggling with how to feed
their children, how to feed themselves, and how to make ends
meet.
Chairman Lincoln. But you make a good point, and we did
experience that in Arkansas, the discomfort level among parents
when they received information about their children that their
body mass index was out of control. And many of them, I can
remember the reaction was, you are telling me I am not doing a
good job raising my children. And that wasn't what it was. It
was clearly information to help them better provide for their
children and to work at creating a healthier environment for
their kids.
But it does go to the fact that information is key in
making sure that parents are aware and they do have
information. And it is a good way to get them involved. I know
a couple of our school principals found that providing a steak
dinner for the parents actually got the parents all to come to
the school, and then she got their attention and was able to
really convince them to participate in a lot of the school
activities with their kids, which in turn engaged them in the
ideas of not only what their kids were doing at school in terms
of meals and other activities, but also at home. And so that is
really important.
But we appreciate all your hard work and your outreach to
the people of Arkansas who, particularly in these economic
times, have tremendous needs. So thank you for being here
today, too.
Ms. Smith, I am very interested to learn about your
experience, obviously from the transition on the SNAP Program,
but how we can also transition WIC. You have spoken an awful
lot about that, transitioning WIC into the 21st century,
especially by encouraging or mandating the transition to an EBT
system. Could you talk a little bit more about your experience
with the SNAP EBT transition and the benefits that occurred? I
mean, you have talked a little bit about that, but clearly,
being able to, in the volume that you all deal with, to be most
efficient.
Ms. Smith. Well, and I apologize, but my experience doesn't
reside with that. I know that happened a few years ago, and
that was really before my time with the company, so--but I can
speak to you about the WIC EBT transitions we have been through
and what we have seen in the States that have already fully
adopted a WIC EBT platform.
Chairman Lincoln. That is a good comparison, the ones that
have and the ones that haven't.
Ms. Smith. Say Texas, for instance, a fairly large State,
we have seen increased engagement from our store associates in
serving the WIC customers. It is a much more pleasant
experience at the cash register point of sale. A colleague of
mine for another company often refers to the cashier as having
to act as the WIC police sometimes in a paper transaction. So
with an Electronic Benefits platform, that type of
confrontation is eliminated.
There is also a faster turnaround time in payment to the
retailers with an Electronic Benefits payment platform. So on a
paper transaction basis, you normally see float of maybe 30 to
45 days before a retailer might receive payment for WIC
vouchers submitted to the State agency for payment. With WIC
EBT, depending on the platform, you are paid either same day or
next day at the latest. So that is an increased turnaround time
for settlement purposes for the retailers.
It has also, I think, lessened administrative burden quite
a bit. Many of the compliance issues that retailers face with
the WIC Program are borne at the point of sale with the cashier
or in the office, where we are processing the checks and
submitting them for payment. So with an Electronic Benefits
platform, those opportunities for error, either at the cash
register or in the office, are eliminated. So you have less
risk of compliance violations and less administrative burden
following up on those compliance violations.
So those are some of the benefits that we have seen----
Chairman Lincoln. Well, maybe you can--when you talked
about standards earlier in your testimony, you can paint a
picture for the committee of what is going to happen if the
committee does require a national EBT system by a certain date
but without national standards.
Ms. Smith. We actually may see that scenario play out very
soon in the State of Oklahoma, a neighbor to the State of
Arkansas. The Cherokee Nation, a recent adopter of EBT for its
benefits distribution for the WIC program, has implemented a
Smart Card program, the offline program, and the State of
Oklahoma, which obviously those jurisdictions overlap, is
considering right now an online or magstripe program. The
Chickasaw Nation, also in Oklahoma, is committed to developing
an online program, as well. So very shortly, we will see just
how well this mix of technologies may or may not work in a real
world environment.
There are examples, though, of interoperability in Texas
and New Mexico, neighboring States that both adopted the Smart
Card, or offline approach to EBT delivery. Those two States--in
the El Paso market area, there are a number of New Mexico
residents who shop in the El Paso market area because it is
closer for them to go there than somewhere else inside their
own State to buy their groceries. New Mexico residents very
easily use their Smart Card to purchase their WIC items in our
Texas stores and it has been a very successful--it is a win-win
for both the State of Texas and the State of New Mexico.
Chairman Lincoln. Well, I thought I heard you in your
testimony, you were saying that last year, you did 400,000, and
then you went within the same period of the next year, you did
four million----
Ms. Smith. We went from four million to 4,400,000, so we
increased approximately 400,000 transactions in a year's time.
Chairman Lincoln. Okay. I was thinking, 400,000 to four
million was a pretty big leap. I wasn't sure if I had heard
that correctly.
Particularly in regard to the central database of products
that are eligible for use under the WIC program, do you think
there is a role for the private sector and the retail community
in establishing a central database? And maybe you can help us
understand the scope of a task like that, both in terms of
establishing such a database, but also in terms of maintaining
it. I mean, I would be curious to know how often new food
products are introduced into the marketplace and how often are
new WIC foods introduced into the marketplace and how much work
would that be to maintain a real-time system that has tracked
all those products.
Ms. Smith. It is a very good question. Particularly with
the WIC Program, it is much more onerous than, say, the SNAP
Program, where you really have foods within the SNAP program--
it is easier to identify the foods that are not eligible than
the foods that are.
The WIC Program has very specific food requirements for its
participants, whether it be package size requirements or
nutritional value of the foods that are being purchased, those
types of things.
Is there a role for the private sector to play? I think we
play that role already today in that we are submitting the
information about the products that we want to make available
to the WIC participants. I think the challenge today is that
because the process varies so widely between WIC authorities,
it is difficult to come up with a uniform approach to
submitting that information to WIC authorities, and that is a
problem not only for the retail community, but the
manufacturing community, as well.
I think that we want an easier way to submit the product
information more quickly to one single location so that we can
get that information out to all of the WIC authorities--it
would be available for them, as well--to more quickly make
choices about changes to their food packages or their approved
food lists.
Right now, generally speaking, most WIC authorities review
their approved food list once a year. It is typically in the
fall in concurrence with the Federal fiscal year. So just last
week, in fact, we got a request from the State of Pennsylvania
to submit information about our Great Value brand products that
would be available in the State of Pennsylvania for the 2010-
2011 food lists. So they are already planning for next year's
food items.
Chairman Lincoln. Those are good suggestions.
Well, thank you all so much for joining us. I apologize for
the interruption with the votes on the floor, but that is
pretty commonplace around here, and I want to thank my
colleagues. I think you hopefully noticed the level of
attendance we had early on with the hearing. Members are
extremely interested in this issue.
Senator Harkin did an awful lot of work and the staff did a
tremendous amount of work early on in the Child Nutrition
reauthorization, and we want to work diligently to do it in a
timely way so that we can also get the maximum benefit out of
our Federal resources. That means being sure that we get it
done before the budget baseline changes. So we are going to be
working hard to do that and we appreciate your input and look
forward to working with you all as we move forward.
I think this is the fifth hearing we have had now on child
nutrition, so we are working to come to a completion and be
able to be ready to do something after the first of the new
year.
But again, thank you all so much for your input here today,
but more importantly, for the hard work that you do across our
State in really dealing with the tough issues of food
insecurity among our families and particularly our children at
a really critical economic time. Hopefully, that translates up
here and we can get some good work done on behalf of all those
families.
So thank you all so much for joining us.
The committee is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 1:05 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
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A P P E N D I X
November 17, 2009
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DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
November 17, 2009
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
November 17, 2009
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