[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 89 (Thursday, June 24, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7419-S7420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          CHILD NUTRITION AND WIC REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2004

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to speak in support of the 
Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 as passed by the 
Senate. In the best tradition of the Senate, Members from both sides of 
the aisle have come together over the past year to renew and improve 
the School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, the Summer Food Service 
Program, the Child and Adult Care Food program, and the Special 
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, WIC. I 
commend the chairman and ranking member of the Agriculture Committee, 
Senator Cochran and Senator Harkin, as well as their staffs, for their 
hard work in support of the millions of children and families who rely 
on these vital programs to meet their daily food needs.
  At the start of the 108th Congress, when we began the process of 
renewing the child nutrition programs, many of us had high hopes for 
improvements that might be made. I proposed legislation to provide 
financial incentives to schools that want to improve their nutritional 
environment, to renew Federal support for nutrition education in 
schools, and to expand and stabilize both the WIC and the WIC Farmer's 
Market Nutrition Programs. With my friend from Pennsylvania, Senator 
Specter, I proposed the creation of a farm-to-cafeteria program that 
would bring fresh foods from local farms into the cafeteria, and with 
my friend from Indiana, Senator Lugar, I proposed giving the Secretary 
of Agriculture greater authority over the sale of soft drinks and junk 
foods in schools. Other proposals were made to eliminate the reduced 
price category for school meals, thereby providing free lunches to all 
children living in families with income below 185 percent of poverty. 
Unfortunately, the tight budget with which we had to work did not 
enable us to enact all of these worthy ideas. I am pleased, however, 
that the bill before us does include many of them and that at the same 
time it substantially improves program access and integrity.
  Working together, we were able to ensure access to the programs for 
needy children through direct certification, targeted verification, and 
technical assistance to reduce administrative error, rather than simply 
requiring across-the-board increased verification that would have 
potentially caused eligible children to be erroneously and unacceptable 
kicked off the program.
  We have maintained the historic role of milk in our school meals 
program, while granting parents the flexibility to help their children 
get a nutritionally equivalent beverage with lunch if they cannot drink 
milk. This legislation will also allow schools to have more flexibility 
on what to serve on the school lunch line. While the school lunch 
program currently restricts schools to offering only milk varieties 
that most students chose in the previous school year, this legislation 
would allow schools to expand choices based on what they believe are 
the best offerings for the student body, including flavored milk, 
lactose-free milk and milk of varying fat levels. In particular, I 
welcome the addition of lactose-free milk to the school lunch line, 
believing it will expand milk's appeal to those with special dietary 
needs.
  We are also taking an important first step in beginning to conquer 
the problem of soda in our schools. Twenty years ago children consumed 
more than twice as much milk as soda; now they drink twice as much soda 
as milk. This is a huge problem for our children. Thus I am pleased 
this bill gives schools the authority to offer milk at anytime and 
anywhere on school premises or at school events. This will prevent 
restrictions on milk sales that are sometimes inserted in soft drink 
vending contracts with schools.
  This legislation ensures that small States will receive an 
inflationary increase in their administrative expense grant--the money 
that they receive to administer and ensure the integrity of the Federal 
child nutrition programs. This provision is particularly important to 
my home State of Vermont as well as to other small and rural States 
that have not seen an increase in their grant in over 20 years despite 
inflation

[[Page S7420]]

and expansion of the responsibilities of the States to oversee the 
programs.
  I look forward to the many wonderful local school-farm partnerships 
that will be possible under my new farm-to-cafeteria grant program as 
authorized by this bill. Communities all across our Nation are 
beginning to explore the benefits of linking local farms and school 
cafeterias. When these connections are made, children get healthier 
fresh food choices at school, and hands-on knowledge about where their 
food comes from and how it is produced. And farmers not only strengthen 
their local markets but become more involved with the schools in their 
community. With just a little seed money and some technical assistance 
these schools can create a program that teaches children about good 
nutrition, shows them the importance of agriculture, and supports local 
farms by keeping food dollars within the community. Under this new 
program, communities will be able to apply for competitive grants from 
USDA for up to $100,000 to purchase adequate equipment to store and 
prepare fresh foods, to develop food procurement relationships with 
nearby farmers, to plan seasonal menus and promotional materials, and 
to develop hands-on nutrition education related to agriculture. As a 
member of the Appropriations Committee, I will now work to secure 
funding for this important new program.
  My support for these new farm-to-cafeteria projects comes in part 
from the amazing successes demonstrated by the WIC Farmers Market 
Nutrition Program, FMNP. Years ago, I helped create this program, which 
provides vouchers to WIC families good for fruits and vegetables at the 
local farmers market. The effects of this program have been stunning, 
and I am very pleased that under that this bill the WIC FMNP voucher 
has been increased from $20 to $30 and that we have reduced the cost to 
States of administering the program.
  These provisions and more mean that millions of children and their 
families will be better served by the Federal child nutrition programs. 
Though I wish we could have had more resources to do some of the other 
things we had considered, like expand access to the child care and 
summer programs in rural areas, provide mandatory funds for nutrition 
education, and eliminate the reduced price meal category, I support the 
package of reforms that we have before us and I pledge to keep working 
on the rest.
  In particular, I will continue to work with my colleagues in the 
Senate to address the growing crisis of childhood obesity in America 
and the ready availability of junk foods in our schools and cafeterias. 
With more and more of our children suffering the health consequences of 
being overweight and obese, we have a responsibility to help them make 
smarter nutrition choices. But with all of the funds that Congress 
rightly appropriates each year for nutrition education and healthy 
school lunches and meals, our Nation's efforts are severely undermined 
when children have to walk through a gauntlet of vending machines 
offering unhealthy choices on the way to the cafeteria. We need to put 
limits on the availability of junk foods in our schools, to ensure that 
students are not substituting empty calorie sodas and snacks for their 
nutritious federally subsidized school meals. Though this measure's 
establishment of local wellness policies is a step in the right 
direction, I am concerned that we have sidestepped our responsibility 
to the health of our Nation's children yet again and I am hopeful that 
we will revisit this issue in the near future.
  Once again, I thank Chairman Cochran and Senator Harkin for their 
leadership on this important legislation, and I am pleased to express 
my strong support for its final passage.

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