[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 48 (Wednesday, March 15, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SCHOOL LUNCHES
(Mr. UNDERWOOD asked and was given permission to address the House
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, in 1991, 14,355 students participated in
the national school lunch program on Guam. In 1994, 18,000 students
participated. If the Republican School Lunch Program had been put into
effect on Guam in 1991, even with their 4.5-percent increases, by 1994,
over 3,500 children would have been without school lunches.
In the same time period, throughout the United States this would have
meant 1.1 million students without lunch every day. These are the
facts. This is the reality behind the rhetoric. The Government pays 4.5
percent now and the children pay later.
If the majority has their will, they will in fact have increased
funds for school lunches for next year, and it is likely that few
children will go hungry in 1996, but will the number of children
eligible for the School Lunch Program remain the same in 1997 and 1998
and beyond?
This blockhead grant will simply not keep pace with the growing
number of kids, nor will it help them wherever they go. What price is
the majority willing to pay to block grant school lunches? Mr. Speaker,
as far as I am concerned, they are not paying any price. Our children
are.
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