[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 41 (Monday, March 6, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E523]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  BLOCK GRANTS WOULD JEOPARDIZE THE SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM IN THE 36TH 
                         CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

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                            HON. JANE HARMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 6, 1995
  Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, the pending legislative proposal to turn 
Child Nutrition Programs into a block grant will mean the end of school 
lunches in my congressional district--the end of 413,017 meals a day 
that keep the children in my district healthy and ready to learn.
  Recently I met with the director of food service for the Manhattan 
Beach Unified School District. She explained that because most of the 
children who benefit from school lunches in my district do not receive 
fully-subsidized lunches, their schools would drop out of the school 
lunch program if it were changed to a block grant. Districts such as 
the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District and the Manhattan 
Beach Unified School District would be forced to eliminate their 
successful school lunch programs because the schools simply couldn't 
afford to continue the program on their own.
  Mr. Speaker, I am a deficit hawk and I am prepared to make tough 
spending choices. But let's not cut programs that work. Let's not cut 
critical investments in our children. Let's not cut the school lunch 
program by turning it into a wasteful and misdirected block grant 
program.


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