[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 144 (Thursday, October 23, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2067]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SCHOOL LUNCH WEEK: SUSTENANCE FOR OUR CHILDREN

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                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 23, 1997

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the importance of 
a vital and often overlooked national program. The week of October 20 
through October 24 marks the 51st anniversary of the National School 
Lunch Program, which has served to provide nutritional meals to three 
generations of American schoolchildren.
  In California's 50th Congressional District, as in many other 
communities across the country, school lunches provide the only 
balanced meal that many of our children can count on. Sadly, their 
young voices are not always heard as Congress debates the necessity of 
this program.
  The National School Lunch Program provides the most basic need of our 
young people--a healthy, balanced meal to give them the nutrition and 
energy necessary to learn and succeed in school. School lunches provide 
the sustenance for the body that enables children to learn and provide 
sustenance for their developing minds.
  Incredibly, this beneficial and cost-effective program is under 
constant attack. Such short-sided logic is a threat to the health and 
welfare of our children and our Nation as a whole. Many of my 
colleagues remember attempts to designate catsup as a vegetable and 
other attempts to eliminate the program entirely. These are not 
examples of cost-effective government, they are not examples of 
leadership, they are examples of child neglect--both criminal in intent 
and cold at heart.
  Mr. Speaker, in honor of National School Lunch Week, I ask that my 
colleagues rise and join with me in support of the National School 
Lunch Program to continue this important nutritional lifeline to our 
children.

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