[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 6, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E475]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE FEDERAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE

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                         HON. STEPHANIE HERSETH

                            of south dakota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 6, 2007

  Ms. HERSETH. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation 
comprised of three sections to improve federal nutrition assistance.
  The National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs are two of the 
Nation's most successful and popular programs. Each day almost 30 
million children participate in the lunch program and 9 million in the 
breakfast programs. Yet, there are children who are eligible for the 
programs who cannot participate.
  Children from families with incomes between 130 percent and 185 
percent of the poverty line are eligible for reduced price meals. A 
reduced price breakfast costs 30 cents per meal per child and a lunch 
is 40 cents per meal per child. While it may be hard to imagine, this 
modest fee appears to be a barrier to low income working households.
  In 2004, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act (P.L. 108-
265) authorized a pilot program to determine for sure whether it was 
the reduced price fee that was keeping children from the program or 
whether there might be other reasons for the lack of participation. I 
believe the time has come to finally fund this pilot and I propose that 
the Congress take this action as a part of the farm bill.
  USDA has suggested that a valid pilot could be implemented for 
approximately $23 million, $10 million per year for two years, plus the 
cost of evaluation. This amount would not allow for a five state, 
state-wide pilot as was authorized but it would provide for a valid 
test of whether the fee is the barrier that is keeping the children 
from the program.
  Evidence has clearly proven that hungry children cannot learn. 
Therefore, if we are going to educate our children in America to 
compete effectively in a world market, we must provide for sound 
nutritious school meals. As the Congress restructures our farm 
programs, and reauthorizes the food stamp program, we should also fund 
this small but important school meal pilot.
  Most of the school boards in South Dakota have endorsed funding for 
this pilot, as has the South Dakota Farmers Union and the Argus Leader, 
our largest newspaper. Nationally, the pilot also enjoys wide support. 
The School Nutrition Association, the Military Impacted School 
Association, National Farmers Union, the National Association of 
Elementary School Principals all support funding the pilot. The 
National School Boards Association has gone further and supports 
gradually eliminating the reduced price category, expanding the free 
meal category to the WIC income guideline. In short, if a family 
qualified for free WIC benefits, the family would also qualify for free 
school meals. Many state and local school boards agree with this 
policy.
  Additionally, I'd like to acknowledge the administering State 
agencies and school districts that work so hard to ensure that every 
school meal these children receive meets the nutrition standards set 
forth in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans as required by law. To 
allow the USDA to better support school food professionals in their 
efforts, this legislation provides for a survey of foods purchased by 
school food authorities to be conducted once every 5 years. This data 
would also help the USDA to better manage the commodities that the 
Department purchases on behalf of schools, and also assess the economic 
impact of school food purchases on different commodity sectors. The 
most recent data on school food purchases is over a decade old and I 
believe this worthwhile investment is overdue.
  Finally, this legislation would increase the minimum spent for food 
program administration in the Food Distribution Program on Indian 
Reservations (FDPIR). FDPIR provides commodity foods and education to 
low-income households that reside on Indian reservations so that they 
can maintain a nutritionally balanced diet with foods they might not 
otherwise have access to where they reside. There are approximately 257 
tribes that receive commodity foods through FDPIR and an increase in 
the distribution of administrative funds is in order to better reflect 
the actual participation rates in this critical program.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this beneficial and important 
legislation. It sets forth modest proposals that could make a world of 
difference to children and families most at risk of severe hunger.

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