[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 10, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S8946]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. Specter):
  S. 1755. A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act to make permanent the summer food service pilot project for rural 
areas of Pennsylvania and apply the program to rural areas of every 
State; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Summer Food 
Service Rural Expansion Act. This bill will provide critical meals to 
children living in poverty in rural areas. I am pleased to introduce 
this bill with Senator Specter. Congressman Platts is introducing 
companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
  During the summer, low-income children lose their access to regular 
daily school meals. The Summer Food Service Program is intended to help 
fill this nutritional gap by providing summer meals to children from 
low-income families who receive school meals.
  For those of my colleagues who do not know much about the Summer Food 
Service Program, it was authorized through the National School Lunch 
Act of 1968. The program allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture to 
provide grants to nonprofit food service programs that in turn provide 
meals for children from low-income families through sites such as 
nonprofit schools, local governments, and nonprofit summer camps. Yet, 
despite the best efforts of this program, only 2 in 10 low-income 
children who receive school lunch also receive summer food when school 
is out. So where do these children get food? Sadly, the answer is that 
many of them go hungry.
  Traditionally, the majority of sponsors and sites participating in 
the Summer Food Service Program have tended to be located in urban 
areas. As we know, however, hunger is not just an urban issue. Thanks 
to the tremendous effort by Congressman Platts, the Child Nutrition Act 
of 2004 recognized the void of such programs in predominantly rural 
areas and established a 2-year pilot program to increase participation 
rates in rural communities.
  The existing Summer Food Service Program is available to areas in 
which at least 50 percent of the children are eligible for free or 
reduced price school meals. However, to encourage more sponsors and 
more sites to participate in the program, the pilot allowed that 
threshold to be reduced to 40 percent in rural communities.
  The pilot, which ran in my home state during calendar years 2005 and 
2006, was a tremendous success. During the first year of the pilot 
program, 20 sponsors offered 40 meal sites in rural areas. Of the 
sponsors, 8 were new sponsors of the program and 12 were sponsors in 
the prior years who added meal sites. During the first year of the 
program, the total numbers of meals served in rural communities 
increased by 73,000 meals, or 11 percent over the previous year. By the 
second year, there were 9 new sponsors, 16 returning sponsors, and 77 
pilot sites; and the number of meals served increased over the previous 
year by an additional 4.3 percent, or 31,000 meals.
  Unfortunately, because of the expiration of the pilot program, 37 of 
the sites established under the pilot will not be able to participate 
this summer. That means nearly half of the children who participated in 
this program over the past 2 years will no longer be able to count on 
receiving nutritious meals during the summer months.
  For this reason, I am introducing legislation to help not only the 
children of Pennsylvania, but also the needy children in rural areas of 
every single State who deserve access to nutritious lunches during the 
summer months.
  Through this bill, the Summer Food Service Pilot Program for rural 
areas would become a permanent program and would apply to rural areas 
of every State beginning in calendar year 2007 and each calendar year 
thereafter. Through this bill, the numbers of children participating in 
the program will dramatically increase, and needy children in rural 
areas throughout the country will receive nutritious meals they might 
not otherwise get during the summer months.
  I urge all of my colleagues to join in the effort to combat childhood 
hunger in rural areas by cosponsoring the Summer Food Service Rural 
Expansion Act.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1755

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Summer Food Service Rural 
     Expansion Act''.

     SEC. 2. SUMMER FOOD SERVICE PILOT PROGRAM FOR RURAL AREAS OF 
                   PENNSYLVANIA MADE PERMANENT AND APPLIED TO 
                   RURAL AREAS OF EVERY STATE.

       Section 13(a)(9) of the Richard B. Russell National School 
     Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1761(a)(9)) is amended--
       (1) in the paragraph heading by striking ``Exemption'' and 
     inserting ``Applicability to rural areas''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``For each of calendar 
     years 2005 and 2006 in rural areas of the State of 
     Pennsylvania'' and inserting ``For calendar year 2007 and 
     each calendar year thereafter, in rural areas of a State''.
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