[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 22, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3531-H3532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TAKING CARE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Miller] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, America is asking the question 
that Congresswoman DeLauro just answered, and that is how is it that 
the Republicans can say they are not hurting the School Lunch Program 
when they take over $2 billion away from the School Lunch Program and 
over $7 billion away from the nutrition programs for the children of 
this Nation?
  The fact of the matter is they cannot. They cannot fulfill the 
promise of this Nation to feed hungry children, to take care of 
children in need, and at the same time remove these funds. The mythical 
increase as she referred to simply does not provide for the element of 
growth in the program that takes into account the ever increasing cost 
of food, the increasing number of children unfortunately in this 
country who continue to be eligible for this program, and what happens 
in the downturn in our economy.
  So the result is that in fact the school breakfast program, the lunch 
program, the after school program, and the commodities program simply 
cannot be taken care of.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MILLER of California. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from 
Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentleman is referring to this 
Republican plan to block-grant all of these different feeding programs 
into one single grant of money, and they are arguing that they are not 
cutting back.
  Mr. MILLER of California. The gentleman is quite correct. What we see 
here is the block grant. This is what you need, this is what you are 
trying to cover. This is the block, ladies and gentlemen, that you have 
to cover to take care of America's children. You have got to provide 
lunches for children who need lunches, you have to have food assistance 
in order to provide the commodities and fresh fruits and vegetables 
necessary so you can have a healthy lunch, and an after school and 
summer program because many children unfortunately, when school is out 
they still require food. It is necessary that they eat, they are still 
hungry. And of course the breakfast program has become more and more 
important as we see this is the key if children learn in the early 
hours of their school day and this is what is necessary.
  But unfortunately you will see here that the Republicans do not do 
that. If you take care and provide full funding for lunches and you 
provide full funding for food assistance, and you do the breakfast 
program, you can see that the block grant does not cover the block 
because there is no funding available for summer programs which so many 
of our children rely on.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will further yield, the 
Republicans argue they are not killing these programs at all, in fact 
they are providing more money for them. And yet you have one of the 
blocks there, if I am not mistaken, the after school and summer program 
that is not provided for. How does this work?
  Mr. MILLER of California. What the Republicans would do because they 
did not provide the increase for the commodities program, they would 
suggest the commodities is really taken care of, so there would be 
money left over to take care of after school and summer breakfasts, but 
there is, as is apparent readily to anyone in the audience, of course 
nothing
 here in the commodities program, and the commodities are a key 
component and that is why when Republicans say they are going to give a 
4.5 percent increase for the nutrition programs they did not figure in 
the cost of commodities into their escalator. And once again there we 
find out that the block grant they talk about to feed American children 
is not fully covered and children now go without the commodities 
portion of that program.

                              {time}  2045

  Mr. DURBIN. If the gentleman will yield, the school districts I 
represent in Illinois, their commodity assistance which they receive 
actually is a way that they are feeding the kids in terms of lunches 
and breakfasts and so forth.
  Now, if the Republican block grant does not provide enough money for 
the food district have?
  Mr. MILLER of California. Well, your school district could take 
another action. It could take away the breakfast program and provide 
the commodities that are so terribly important for the school lunch 
program where they make 
[[Page H3532]] up a large bulk of the school lunch program menu, but 
because there is no increase in the food assistance, they would have to 
take that from the breakfast program or one of these other. No matter 
how you move around the plates, of course, what you see is that the 
Republican proposal for child nutrition in our school lunch programs 
simply does not cover the needs of the children currently enrolled.
  And we are now estimating that almost 2 million children that 
otherwise would be served will not be served because one of them, it is 
just sort of like musical chairs. One of them is going to show up for 
one of these programs. There is not going to be funding for that 
program. They are going to go unserved. That estimate is now 2 million 
children in the next 5 years.
  Mr. DURBIN. If the gentleman will yield, what do you make of the 
Republican claim? They keep saying, ``Wait a minute, we are giving a 
4\1/2\-percent increase every year for school lunch; how can you 
complain? Four-and-a-half percent ought to be plenty.''
  Mr. MILLER of California. That is really similar if I were to cut 
your wages by $20,000 and then say I am going to give you a 4\1/2\-
percent increase over the next 5 years. You start out in the hole, and 
you never get well, and because they do not provide a 4\1/2\-percent 
increase on inflation, on the price of commodities, the price of food, 
the increase in enrollment, the 4\1/2\ percent turns out to be 
fraudulent. Under the Republican program, you can do this. You have no 
lunches, no food assistance, no afterschool program, and no breakfast. 
What a shame, shameful thing for America's children who were expecting 
a block grant to take care of their needs.
  The plates will be available after the show.
  

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