[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CHILD NUTRITION AND WIC REAUTHORIZATION AMENDMENTS OF 1998

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                               speech of

                           HON. PATSY T. MINK

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 20, 1998

  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of 
H.R. 3874, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Bill, which 
makes changes to the federal child nutrition programs and the Women, 
Infants, and Children Supplemental Feeding Program, known as WIC.
  The WIC program is a key part of our efforts to reduce infant 
mortality rates and assure that children in this nation are born 
healthy and are fed a nutritionally sound diet in the early formative 
years. This is accomplished through the provision of special food 
packages to approximately 7.5 million low-income women, infants and 
children each month. In my home state of Hawaii the WIC program serves 
over 35,000 individuals.
  H.R. 3874 makes some important changes to the WIC program by 
providing more flexibility to States in administering the program and 
including provisions designed to protect the integrity of the WIC 
program.
  H.R. 3874 continues to encourage the breast-feeding program under WIC 
and provides additional incentives by allowing WIC agencies to use 
their nutrition account, rather than administrative account, to 
purchase breast pumps for breast-feeding women.
  I am pleased that it also includes my amendment which is designed to 
assure that working parents on WIC and their children are able to 
continue services. The bill includes a new requirement that children 
participating in WIC be physically present during recertification. WIC 
participants are required to be recertified every six months.
  My amendment included in the bill provides authority to local 
agencies to waive the physical presence requirement for children of 
working parents, if the children were present at the initial 
certification, and if their presence at recertification would be a 
barrier to participation.
  Requiring working mothers to bring in all of their children could 
pose a severe hardship on the mother and children. It would mean extra 
transportation time for working mothers, for example a mother with 2 or 
more children may have to pick up her children at different locations, 
one at day care the other at school. This may require mothers to take 
an entire day off of work as opposed to half a day or a couple of hours 
if they can go by themselves.
  The amendment does not exempt all children with working parents from 
the requirement, but those that have such difficult circumstances that 
the requirement may actually serve as a barrier to participation in the 
program, such as a working mother with transportation problems.
  Currently about 28% of WIC eligible mothers work during the first two 
months following the birth of their children, increasing to roughly 30% 
when the child turned one (Mathematica Research).
  The flexibility provided in my amendment will become increasingly 
important as more and more mothers on welfare (TANF) will be required 
to work under the 1996 Welfare Law. With 30% of WIC eligible women also 
receiving welfare the number of working mothers on WIC is likely to 
increase as a result of the 1996 law. We must assure that these working 
mothers have every opportunity to continue their jobs and retain WIC 
eligibility.
  I also am pleased that the Committee concurs with my support of the 
Department of Agriculture's efforts to provide guidelines to local WIC 
agencies regarding cultural and ethnic foods. This support was 
expressed in the Committee Report. Participation in WIC can be greatly 
enhanced by the use of appropriate cultural foods. I know in Hawaii we 
have many nutritious foods that are a part of our local diet which are 
not included in the WIC food package such as tofu and poi. These 
guidelines will make it easier for our State WIC agency to incorporate 
such foods into the WIC package.
  The Committee also included language in its report which I suggested 
on the coordination of WIC blood work requirements with the other 
periodicity schedules such as those by the American Academy of 
Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control. Conforming with these 
schedules will help to improve enrollment, recertification and testing 
efficiencies in the WIC program.

  On the child nutrition programs also included in this bill, I 
strongly support the expansion of the after-school nutrition programs 
through the Child and Adult Care Food program and raising the age limit 
for children eligible for the after-school snacks and meals from 12 to 
18.
  Provisions in this bill will also help streamline the administrative 
process for schools who serve after-school meals under the Child and 
Adult Care Food program. This will make it easier for schools to apply 
for the after-school funds.
  The bill makes an important change in the Summer Food Program that 
will raise reimbursement rates for Hawaii, Alaska and the Territories. 
All other child nutrition programs allow the Department of Agriculture 
to increase the reimbursement rate for these States and Territories to 
account for the higher cost of food. However, the Summer Food program 
had no such authority. I am pleased that this bill will allow the 
increase in reimbursement rates to more accurately reflect the cost of 
food in my State.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3974 includes a provision that is very 
critical to my home State of Hawaii and the farmers who are struggling 
under our current economy. H.R. 3974 includes an amendment I offered at 
subcommittee which makes changes to the ``Buy American'' provision to 
assure that Hawaii would be required to buy American products if they 
are made in Hawaii.
  Under current law, Hawaii has been exempt from the requirement that 
only U.S. products be used in the school lunch and breakfast program, 
except that Hawaii schools are required to purchase U.S. (Hawaii) grown 
pineapples. The amendment I included in H.R. 3874 revises this 
provision to require Hawaii to buy American where food products are 
produced in Hawaii in quantities sufficient to serve the Hawaii school 
lunch and breakfast program.
  This provision will assure that the Hawaii school lunch program 
purchases such food products as bananas, pineapples and papayas that 
are grown here in Hawaii, but still has the flexibility to purchase 
other foods made outside of the U.S. if necessary. Federal programs 
should support our local economy. What better way to help Hawaii 
agriculture than to assure that our school lunch and breakfast programs 
purchase local grown food. The children will be getting better quality 
foods that are produced in their own state.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3874 will ensure that our important child nutrition 
programs continue, that they are more efficient, and that more children 
and families are served by these important programs. I urge the passage 
of this bill.

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