[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12452-S12454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CHILD NUTRITION REAUTHORIZATION

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, there is an old saying that ``where there 
is a will, there is a way.'' That is very true of this Congress.
  Congress can work together when it wants to get a job done, when 
Members focus on resolving issues rather than sound bites for the 
nightly news. I was pleased for example, to have worked with Senators 
Bennett, Hatch, Dodd,

[[Page S12453]]

and many other on complex computer issues in the Y2K readiness bill, 
which we were able to pass without objection in the Senate.
  It is unfortunate that sometimes when Congress quietly and 
effectively gets its job done, there is little press interest. So, for 
a moment I want to draw attention to the child nutrition bill, which 
Congress passed by working together.
  I want to pull everyone's attention away from the maelstrom to thank 
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and their staffs for a 
job well done on the child nutrition bill.
  At conference with the House, I asked that this child nutrition bill 
be named in honor of Congressman Bill Goodling. The motion was 
immediately and unanimously accepted. For years he has worked to 
improve these programs. This will be his last reauthorization effort 
and we will miss his touch and his leadership the next time around.
  I want to also thank Lynn Selmser who has been Chairman Goodling's 
chief nutrition advisor for years. She has worked hard on these issues 
and deserves a great deal of credit.
  The Democratic conferees, Congressman Martinez of California and 
Congressman Bill Clay of Missouri, and their staffs, greatly 
contributed to this effort and kept the interests of children front and 
center.
  On the Senate side we worked together as a team. That is an even 
greater compliment than normal considering all the other issues facing 
the country.
  Of course, Chairman Lugar set the bipartisan course and carefully 
included all of us in the process. He has extended to me every courtesy 
and is a great chairman who is tough but fair to all Members. His chief 
counsel, Dave Johnson, has done, as he has always done in the past, an 
outstanding job from a legal and policy standpoint.
  I switched places with my good friend Senator Harkin a couple years 
ago. I took his job as ranking member on the nutrition subcommittee and 
he took mine as ranking member on the full Agriculture Committee. 
Senator Harkin is a fighter for children and these programs and Iowa 
should be proud of his accomplishments.
  Mark Halverson, his chief counsel on the committee, has been his 
nutrition advisor for years and handles these matter with great skill.
  Senator McConnell is chairman of the nutrition subcommittee and we 
have worked together for years to help improve and strengthen these 
programs. I was pleased that the Kentucky and Iowa child care pilot 
projects were made permanent by this bill. Dave Hovermale has done a 
superb job on these issues.
  The third Republican Conferee, Senator Cochran, is also the Chairman 
of the Agriculture Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. That 
is a lot of clout and it was well used to strengthen these child 
nutrition programs. I want to compliment Senator Cochran's agriculture 
staff person, Hunt Shipman, who has worked on these issues for years 
and has done a tremendous job. Senator Cochran, with my full support 
when I was chairman, helped to create the School Food Service 
Management Institute. I am pleased that this bill increases funding for 
that Institute and makes it permanent.
  I want to also thank Ed Barron of my staff who has advised me on 
nutrition issues and legislation for almost twelve years. I know that 
Senators on both sides of the aisle seek his advice on nutrition 
legislation.
  I also want to thank Michelle Barrett, who is on my staff, for 
helping out regarding these nutrition issues.
  USDA Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Under Secretary Shirley 
Watkins has done a marvelous job in promoting child nutrition and 
getting these programs and Department of Agriculture moving forward. 
The President made a marvelous choice in sending her name to the 
Senate. I greatly appreciate her leadership and dedication. Her deputy, 
Julie Paradis, distinguished herself for years as a lead nutrition 
staff person for the House Agriculture Committee. She has done a 
wonderful job at USDA and I greatly enjoy working with her. USDA's 
``Chairman's Hunger Initiative for Learning and Development'' contains 
important recommendations to the Congress and the country and was 
helpful in this legislative process.
  Also, I have appreciated the valuable input provided by the American 
School Food Service Association and their counsel Marshall Matz. Their 
Legislative Issue Papers and careful analysis of these matters makes 
our job easier.
  The Food Research and Action Center helps galvanize grassroots 
supports for these nutrition efforts. Their excellent report, ``Schools 
Out, Let's Eat,'' on the Child and Adult Care Food Program presented 
excellent examples and information.
  I appreciate the efforts of my fellow Vermonter Dr. Dick Narkewitz 
who was chair of a major WIC advisory panel this year. I have always 
valued his advice and counsel on WIC and other infant health issues.
  I also want to mention the valuable assistance of the National 
Association of WIC Directors and their executive director Doug 
Greenaway. They have always made solid recommendations to the Congress.
  The Food and Nutrition Service is an extremely well run agency and 
has very dedicated, professional and intelligent staff who do an 
outstanding job for this nation. Simple stated, FNS is top-notch.
  Also, Joe Richardson and Jean Jones of the CRS have provided Congress 
with extremely helpful information and advice over the year--24 hours a 
day if needed. I know that Members on both sides of the aisle have the 
highest regard for them.
  Also, working with Chairman Lugar on nutrition issues is Danny 
Spellacy who is a rising star within the ranks.
  Every four or five years the Congress takes a very careful look at 
its child nutrition programs. These programs are important to America's 
children and thus are important to America's future. Many teachers tell 
me they were surprised to learn how many children come to school 
hungry. There could be many reasons for this: extreme poverty, a 
dysfunctional family, child abuse or other nightmares heaped on young 
children.
  Ed Barron's mother, Dorothy Barron, works for the Florida City 
Elementary School in Florida City, Florida. This school is in the last 
town before you hit Key Largo. She advises that many of the students 
come to school hungry. The school meals programs are essential for 
these children to be able to concentrate on learning.
  Without school breakfast and lunch programs, many children would 
never stand a chance because they would just get hungrier during the 
school day. This bill will improve these programs and make it easier 
for school food services to provide lunches and breakfasts. The bill 
also includes a provision from a bill introduced by Senator Johnson 
which would authorize a study of the benefits of providing 
``universal'' breakfasts to grade school children.
  The idea, and it is a good one, is to test how offering breakfasts to 
all children affects academic performance, test scores, truancy, 
tardiness and other matters. Preliminary studies have shown positive 
effects. While this bill does not provide mandatory funding for this 
study as was in the Senate bill, it does authorize such funding.
  The WIC program is another great idea and program which is continued 
by the bill. Congress has rallied behind this program for a very good 
reason. Research shows that enhanced nutritional assistance for 
pregnant women greatly increases the health of newborn children. 
Indeed, participation in WIC was shown to greatly reduce the incidence 
of newborns placed in neonatal intensive care.
  WIC not only improves the health of those children but greatly 
reduces federal costs associated with Medicaid payments for that 
intensive care. The Congress has worked together to fund the WIC 
program and to improve its operation. Chairman Cochran and the ranking 
Member, Senator Bumpers, of the Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee 
are to be commended for their continuous support for these programs.
  I am very proud to have worked with my colleagues to use cost 
containment to put well over one million additional pregnant women, 
infants and children on the program each year at no extra cost to 
taxpayers. We did this through an extremely simple idea--the government 
was required to buy infant formula at the lowest cost possible, not at 
retail cost. This saves over $1.5 billion

[[Page S12454]]

per year. This reauthorization bill continues and strengthens that cost 
containment language.
  The WIC Farmers' Market Program is also continued and expanded in 
this bill. Mary Carlson was president of the National Association of 
Farmers' Market Nutrition Programs this year and helped me on this 
reauthorization effort. I appreciate that she flew down from Vermont to 
Washington to help with some of the discussions with staff. We were 
able to include some of her suggestions in this bill. Also, on the 
appropriations front, it does appear that Congress will provide $15 
million for the WIC Farmers' Market program this year. On the national 
level, this new funding level will allow more states to participate in 
this highly successful program.
  I am very proud that the WIC Farmers' Market Program, called Farm-to-
Family in Vermont, got its start in legislation that I introduced in 
the late 1980s. The program promotes consumption of fresh produce among 
low income families participating in WIC, helps farmers, helps 
communities set up farmers' markets, and helps teach families how to 
best use fresh fruits and vegetables. Fruits, vegetables, and other 
farm products provide a healthy supplement to the dairy products, 
juices, and fortified cereals included in the WIC package.
  In addition to being strongly liked by participating families, 
farmers also like this program. A USDA study showed that WIC recipients 
continue to buy at farmer's markets long after they stopped getting WIC 
benefits. In Vermont, more than 200 farmers currently participate in 
the WIC Farmers' Market Program.
  A participating farmer in New Hampshire said that ``the program 
enabled us to keep farming. Without it we would have been forced to 
stop.'' A Massachusetts farmer said: ``it made it possible for our 
small town farmers' market to get off the ground during its first 
year.''
  Mary Carlson has advised me that this program has had a significant 
role in helping Vermont communities set up farmers' markets. In 
Vermont, nearly 5,000 families participate in the program at over 30 
farmers' markets. This program leverages a very modest federal 
investment and helps farmers, farmers' markets and families throughout 
the nation.
  This bill also expands the reach of a nutrition program that is very 
important for homeless children living in emergency shelters. I hosted 
a hearing on this matter in 1994 and His Eminence Anthony Cardinal 
Bevilaqua of Philadelphia testified about the need for this program. It 
provides food for young children living in homeless shelters and has 
been of great help to agencies and communities facing homelessness 
among children. The bill blends the food program for homeless children 
into the child care food program. I anticipate that this will mean that 
all current shelters will be able to continue to participate and that 
additional children could be served.
  I take a great personal interest in this program and urge the 
Department to provide its benefits to as many needy children as 
possible. His Eminence sent me a letter and survey results regarding 
this program late last year.
  I will request a report from USDA on how this provision is 
implemented during the next year and will contact sponsors including 
the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to make sure the program continues to 
operate effectively. I appreciate the interest of USDA in this program.
  The reauthorization bill also expands after-school child care 
programs allowing parents to find and keep jobs. These programs are 
becoming more and more important in Vermont and around the nation and I 
am very pleased that this bill provides additional funding and makes 
significant improvements in this area.
  The bill also expands the summer food service program by making it 
easier for sponsors to serve more children. Robert Dostis, with the 
Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, has done a wonderful job in 
Vermont promoting this program as well as the school breakfast program. 
Their ``Report on Childhood Hunger in Vermont'' brought these child 
nutrition issues to life. The bill expands the ability of churches and 
other nonprofit organizations to offer summer food service program 
meals to more children.

  Jo Busha, head of Vermont's child nutrition programs, has been 
recognized for her tremendous efforts in getting more schools to offer 
a breakfast program. I salute her and Robert Dostis for their work on 
behalf of Vermont's children.
  I know that the Vermont School Food Service Association will be 
pleased that this bill will reduce red tape and burdensome school lunch 
rules. The bill lets them get their job done.
  The bill continues a WIC breast feeding promotion program to 
encourage breast feeding instead of the use of infant formula. Working 
with Senator Harkin, we were able to include the program in the 1989 
reauthorization of child nutrition programs.
  The bill also continues a program requested by former Majority Leader 
Robert Dole. This program helps assist children with disabilities to 
participate in the school lunch program and is a very good idea. I 
always appreciated Senator Dole's counsel on these issues.
  The reauthorization bill also continues funding for the national 
information clearinghouse which provides local communities and states 
with information about gleaning, food sources, and programs that help 
communities and families help themselves. This clearinghouse has worked 
out very well and I want to commend World Hunger Year for the 
tremendous job they have done with this program. I know that my good 
friend Chairman Ben Gilman has been a long time friend of World Hunger 
Year and that he, and many others, appreciate what they have done over 
the years.
  The bill also extends federal funding for local programs which 
integrate nutrition and farming education into the regular school 
curricula. This program is scored as a mandatory program and I 
certainly hope that USDA actually funds it. I have suggested more than 
once that USDA consider the Foodworks: Common Roots program in New York 
and Vermont. They have been commended in newspaper accounts and by the 
local principals as a great example of schools integrating the teaching 
of nutrition and farming into the regular school curricula. For 
example, students would design and plant a garden with seeds for food 
grown in colonial days. Young children would use simple math to plot 
out where to place seeds while advanced classes might mathematically 
describe the spiral of corn kernels on the cob.
  Children could be taught about historic farming techniques and how 
they are relevant today. The hands on gardening experience brings 
learning to life an helps make math, science and history more 
interesting.
  I introduced a child nutrition bill last year--the Child Nutrition 
Initiatives Act, S. 1556--that contained a number of proposals that are 
included in this bill. Most important--in light of recent efforts to 
encourage work--are the after-school, and the child care, food 
programs. Adequate after-school care for school-age children is 
critical to permit parents to work. More schools should be able to 
offer after-school food programs.
  I also cosponsored Senator Lugar's child nutrition reauthorization 
bill. I hope that some time in the future we can provide assured, 
mandatory funding for the WIC farmers' market program as I proposed in 
my bill. By specifying exact annual caps we could assure funding for 
years while, at the same time, exercise complete control over the size 
of the program. This approach follows a recommendation of the National 
Association of Farmers' Market Nutrition Programs.
  I had also hoped that this reauthorization would provide additional 
financial support to help cover transportation costs for every rural 
areas--75 cents per child, per day--for the summer food service 
program. S. 1556 also would have helped create more summer food service 
programs, by providing grants to cover one-time costs associated with 
setting up a summer food service program.
  I will work in the future to include some of these ideas into the 
next reauthorization bill. I now look forward to the President signing 
this important bill into law.




                          ____________________