[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 90 (Friday, June 25, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          CHILD NUTRITION AND WIC REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 24, 2004

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 2507, the 
Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, which both 
reflects--and improves upon--the bipartisan child nutrition bill we 
passed in the House on March 24 of this year.
  Like H.R. 3873, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act will 
provide food security to more children and families than ever before, 
eliminate needless paperwork for program providers and place a renewed 
emphasis on obesity prevention through improved nutrition and greater 
exercise.
  But--fortunately for America's children--S. 2507 goes further. It 
expands the popular Lugar summer food pilot to two additional states. 
It gives five states new authority to look at eliminating the ``reduced 
price'' category for school lunch. It establishes important new cost 
containment measures to ensure the integrity of the WIC program. And--
perhaps most significantly for those of us interested in increasing 
participation rates among eligible children--S. 2507 provides mandatory 
funding for all schools to directly certify food stamp-eligible 
children for free school lunch by 2008--and greater flexibility for 
schools to verify income through third party sources like TANF and 
Medicaid. These measures take an important step towards eliminating at 
least some of the barriers that currently keep otherwise eligible 
children from accessing these critical programs.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing I'd like to thank Chairman Boehner, our 
ranking member Mr. Miller, Mr. Castle and Ms. Woolsey--along with 
Senators Cochran and Harkin--for all of their hard work on this 
important legislation. I think we can all be proud that--at least on 
this issue--we have done the people's work.

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