[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 90 (Friday, June 25, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1287]]
           OHIO NUTRITION AND WIC REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                    HON. JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 24, 2004

  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to give my enthusiastic 
support to S. 2507, ``The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act 
of 2004''.
  In January of this year, I urged the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce to include in this Reauthorization Act provisions to 
authorize fruit and vegetable pilot programs for the Women, Infants and 
Children (WIC) Nutrition Program.
  The bill expands this program as well as the Summer Food Service 
Program. It also provides training and technical assistance to schools 
in program administration and targets benefits to low-income children.
  The passage of this bill today is truly a landmark achievement, as it 
represents the most extensive amendments to the Richard B. Russell 
National School Lunch Act (NSLA) and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 
(CNA). This legislation reauthorizes national school lunch and 
breakfast, child and adult care food, after-school snack, summer food 
service and special supplemental nutrition programs for (WIC), among 
others.
  The bill also amends the Commodity Distribution Reform Act and WIC 
Amendments of 1987 and the Food Stamps Act of 1977 to streamline 
applications for school meal program benefits. It does so by 
establishing agreements between State Food Stamp Agencies and School 
Food Authorities.
  Like my colleagues, I believe it is critical that our Nation's 
children have access to healthy and nutritional foods while attending 
school. The pilot program provided in this bill makes this possible.
  Mr. Speaker, we are all well aware that childhood obesity is a major 
health issue in this Nation that must be addressed. Our children 
deserve to have healthy choices for their breakfast and lunch meals. 
For many of our children these meals are the only nutritionally 
complete meals they will eat throughout the week.
  According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National 
Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), an estimated 15 percent of 
children and adolescents ages 6-19 years were overweight in 1999-2000. 
This represents a 4 percent increase from the previous 1988-1994 
estimates. Passage of this bill represents bipartisan and bicameral 
efforts to benefit the children of our country.
  I firmly believe that this is the right bill at the right time for 
America's women and children.

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