[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 39 (Thursday, March 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2577]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  2300
               IN SUPPORT OF CHILDRENS NUTRITION PROGRAMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McHugh). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Florida [Ms. Brown] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, I spoke with 95 
little 3-year-olds in my district. Tonight, I rise on their behalf.
  The school lunch program has worked well since 1946--it's not broken. 
America's children are our most important resource for the future.
  Studies show that if a child is hungry, taxpayer dollars for 
education are wasted because when kids are hungry they can't learn. 
According to the Children's Defense Fund, millions of children will go 
hungry by cutting funds for school lunches, food stamps, child care, 
Head Start meals, and WIC programs. Republican double-talk says ``cuts 
to school lunches'' aren't ``cuts,'' but block grants to States. That 
deceives the American people. As a 10-year veteran of the Florida 
legislature, I can tell you that sending Federal dollars to the States 
as block grants does not ensure that these funds will go to child 
nutrition programs.
  This school lunch program began after the start of World War II when 
young men tried to enlist in the military and were rejected because 
they were malnourished and couldn't pass the physical. President Truman 
wisely determined that producing healthy youngsters was in the national 
interest. It still is today.
  Congress should not be cutting child nutrition and child care. These 
cuts take food out of the mouths of hungry children. No big federally 
subsidized defense contractor has seen a dime threatened. No wealthy 
individual has seen his special tax breaks cut. In fact, the reason 
they're making all these cuts is so that the wealthy can get additional 
capital gains benefits on the backs of suffering children.
  Republicans seem to think they can fool some of the people, some of 
the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time. The 
Contract on America is a contract on children, the elderly, veterans 
and the hardest working Americans.
  The school lunch program works, it feeds hungry children. As the 
saying goes, ``If it's not broke, don't fix it.''


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