[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 41 (Friday, April 15, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 15, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              INTRODUCTION OF CHILD NUTRITION LEGISLATION

                                 ______


                        HON. WILLIAM F. GOODLING

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 1994

  Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing two bills which I 
believe will improve the operation of our current child nutrition 
programs.
  The first bill addresses growing concerns about anticompetitive 
activities and fraud encountered by school food service authorities in 
the procurement of food products for the child nutrition programs. To 
allow these types of activities to continue unchecked is a serious 
waste of limited Federal dollars which could be better spent on 
improving the nutrition of this Nation's children.
  This bill has three main purposes. One is to save school districts, 
parents, and taxpayers millions of dollars by reducing the instances of 
bid-rigging, price-fixing and fraud in connection with the child 
nutrition programs. The second purpose is to deter companies and 
individuals from engaging in these types of anticompetitive and 
fraudulent activities by strengthening the existing debarment 
requirements. The third purpose is to encourage the Secretary of 
Agriculture to provide training and technical advice to food service 
authorities in the identification of fraud and anticompetitive 
activities when procuring products for the child nutrition programs.
  To accomplish the above-stated purposes, the bill identifies specific 
activities, which upon their occurrence, shall result in the initiation 
of debarment proceedings by the Secretary of Agriculture against 
individuals and companies participating in the child nutrition 
programs. These activities include: (i) Substantial and material 
violations of child nutrition program regulations; and (ii) criminal 
and/or civil findings of anticompetitive activities, other violations 
of antitrust laws, fraud, bribery, embezzlement, theft, forgery, breach 
of contract, and false claims in connection with the child nutrition 
programs.
  A company or individual subject to debarment as determined by the 
Secretary shall be prohibited from participating in any child nutrition 
programs for a period of 3 years. If the company or individual has been 
previously debarred by the Secretary, a subsequent debarment shall be 
for a period of not less than 5 years. A company or individual wishing 
to challenge a debarment proceeding in court must first exhaust all 
administrative remedies prior to seeking judicial review.
  Last, the Secretary is authorized through the Food Service Management 
Institute to provide advice, training, technical assistance, and 
guidance to representatives of States and local agencies regarding 
means of identifying and preventing fraud and anticompetitive 
activities relating to the provision of goods or services in 
conjunction with the participation of a local agency in a child 
nutrition program.

  The second bill I am introducing would provide schools with greater 
flexibility in providing students with fresh fruits and vegetables, 
make permanent the current cash/CLOC demonstration projects, and 
provide for a broader demonstration of the effectiveness of the 
Commodity Letter of Credit CLOC Program.
  Commodity support is currently provided to schools in two ways: 
entitlement commodities, which meet a legislatively specified mandate, 
and bonus commodities, offered when USDA needs to reduce excess 
commodity holdings or alleviate a specific unexpected agricultural 
surplus. Entitlement commodities valued at 14 cents were distributed to 
schools for the 1993-94 school year.
  Two alternatives to the standard commodity distribution system are 
currently in place. One alternative allows schools to receive cash in 
lieu of commodities, while the other allows schools to receive 
commodity letters of credit CLOC, which are used to purchase the same 
types of products that USDA distributes under the regular commodity 
distribution program.
  According to CLOC participants, the demonstration program has been a 
successful alternative to the standard commodity distribution program. 
Schools participating in the CLOC alternative are able to control 
storage costs by purchasing quantities as needed, and are also in a 
better position to control the nutritional content of the food served 
since they can require their suppliers to provide products which meet 
specified dietary guidelines. Also, those participating in the 
alternative programs indicate that they are able to purchase 
commodities in a form most usable by school food service personnel and 
most acceptable to students. This ability to purchase preprocessed 
foods saves schools the costs related to processing commodities 
received in an unusable form. As an additional benefit, CLOC achieves 
USDA's goal of removing specific commodities from the marketplace 
within USDA timelines.
  One criticism of the CLOC alternative is that the demonstration is 
not large enough to provide an accurate picture of the program's 
ability to remove agricultural commodities from the marketplace. The 
legislation I am proposing would address this concern in two ways. 
First, the bill would allow the establishment of one statewide 
demonstration, provided that 80 percent or more of the schools in the 
State agree to participate. Second, the legislation would allow for one 
CLOC project in each State.
  This legislation also addresses the criticism that, in spite of 
efforts to increase the amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables in the 
school lunch program, the commodity distribution system is unable to 
deliver such commodities while they are still fresh. This legislation 
would allow interested schools to receive 10 percent of their commodity 
entitlement in the form of a CLOC to be used for the purchase of fresh 
fruits and vegetables.
  Finally, the bill I am introducing would allow an individual's 
eligibility for programs under the National School Lunch and Child 
Nutrition Act to serve as a determination of eligibility for other 
nutrition programs with comparable standards. Often a school must 
obtain and process separate applications for School Lunch, Child Care 
Food and other nutrition programs. This legislation would reduce 
paperwork for schools and release families from the burden of applying 
separately for a variety of nutrition programs for which they are 
eligible.
  I urge my Colleagues to cosponsor and support these bills.

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