[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 35 (Friday, February 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2215]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           THE MEXICAN HOLDUP

  (Mr. FUNDERBURK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FUNDERBURK. Mr. Speaker, the Mexican holdup continues, aided and 
abetted by the White House and the congressional leadership. Despite 
overwhelming opposition across the country, the Clinton administration 
sidestepped the people's House and handed the regime in Mexico City $20 
billion.
  What did the American people get for this sweetheart deal between 
Wall Street and the one-party dictatorship south of the border? They 
got nothing, except of course laughs from the bankers and the 
politicians who once again put one over on them.
  Mr. Speaker, you would expect that the Clinton administration would 
have the sense to demand something from Mexico in exchange for our 
money--such as denationalize every Mexican company, end wage and price 
controls, stop propping up Castro's brutal regime, or start patrolling 
the Mexican side of the border to stem the wave of illegals. 
Unfortunately, that is asking too much, because Wall Street, the 
international bureaucrats, and Mexico City want to ensure that they can 
maintain business as usual and continue fleecing the American people.
  If congressional Republicans do nothing to stop this Mexican holdup, 
we will have fulfilled George Wallace's declaration that there isn't a 
dime's bit of difference between Democrats and Republicans.

                              {time}  1440
             A BREACH OF CONTRACT WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bateman). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Wise] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I met with 25 constituents from the 
eastern panhandle of West Virginia who were as amazed as I was and 
could not believe what had happened, and that is that this Congress, 
under the Republican Contract for America, honestly was proposing and, 
indeed, appears hell-bent to eliminate the School Lunch Program by 
putting it into a block grant, a program that has been with us now 
since 1946.
  Let us talk about what the School Lunch Program does for West 
Virginia and, in so doing, for the Nation.
  The School Lunch Program serves 180,000 lunches per day in our State. 
It serves 77,000 breakfasts per day. The Child Care Program serves 
facilities such as Head Start and day care, serves 38,000 meals per 
day. Fifty-seven percent of school lunches in West Virginia go to those 
eligible for free or reduced meals. Seventy-seven percent of school 
breakfasts in West Virginia go to that same category. The West Virginia 
school lunches cost $98 million, of which $55 million is Federal. The 
balance comes from students and their parents, from county and State 
contributions.
  Twenty-one of our fifty-five counties in West Virginia are severe-
need counties, meaning that 60 percent or more of these students 
qualify for free or reduced lunch. In my district alone, the Second 
District, the severe-need counties include Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, 
Gilmer, Lewis, and Randolph.
  The average price for a school lunch in West Virginia is 85 cents for 
breakfast. It is 50 cents, the actual cost per meal being $2.12, making 
the Federal subsidy per meal $1.36.
  The history of the National School Lunch Act enacted in 1946 was done 
under the national security heading in the Constitution. And why? 
Because so many young recruits were failing their draft physicals due 
to nutrition-related diseases.
  In 1966 Congress enacted the Child Nutrition Act in recognition of 
the demonstrated relationship between food and good nutrition. Today 
that program serves 25 million students a day. The School Breakfast 
Program serves 5 million a day.
  Now, let us talk about what this means. They say they want it in a 
block grant. What that means is you take the School Lunch Program and 
the School Breakfast Program, now you mix it up in a pot, you put it in 
with WIC, Women, Infant, and Children Program, put it in with the Child 
Care Nutrition Program, cut the money, but say you are giving 
flexibility and send it all to the States, and then you let the States 
decide which of the children do we feed. Whom do we feed? Do we feed 
the WIC child, do we feed the toddler, or perhaps the 6th grader? Which 
child gets it? Which child does not?
  There is something else that is not talked about in this legislation, 
the reality of the matter is that you will close hundreds, if not 
thousands, of school lunch programs across the country. Why? Because in 
order to make enough money to keep the program going, you are going to 
have to charge far more to those who are able to pay the full cost, 
thus pricing it further out of the market.
  We saw this happen already. If you remember the halcyon days of 
President Reagan, when catsup was going to be a vegetable back in 1981 
or 1982 in the School Lunch Program, and we saw, because of the new 
regulations then, we saw many lunch programs close down.
  And so I have a great concern, and obviously total, opposition to 
this measure.
  Well, I hope that people across this country, Mr. Speaker, will rally 
on this. Send in those, tear off the lid from the milk cartons from the 
school lunches, send them in to those who think this is such a good 
idea. Let your legislators, your Representatives, your Senators know, 
your Members of the House of Representatives. There are lots of things 
we can have legitimate arguments about. But taking apart the School 
Lunch Program? Ever try to educate a child who has a rumbling tummy? 
Ever try to educate a child who has nutrition or protein deficiency? 
Ever try to educate a child who does not get enough to eat?
  In many areas of our country this is the way children get enough to 
eat.
  We did not talk about the Summer Lunch Program either, because that 
is another one that will get pitted against all the others. We are 
going to make our children in our States compete for food. That is what 
this is all about.
  This is one that I think everyone can say that is not a part of the 
contract we want. This is a breach of contract with the American 
people, and I urge there be strong opposition to this provision in the 
Contract for America.
  I am counting on America, Mr. Speaker, to respond and say we want 
lunch in our schools.


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