[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 82 (Thursday, May 27, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S4547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. UDALL of New Mexico:
  S. 3446. A bill to amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to advance 
the health and wellbeing of schoolchildren in the United States through 
technical assistance, training, and support for healthy school foods, 
local wellness policies, and nutrition promotion and education, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry.
  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. President, I rise today to express 
support for S. 3307, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, and to 
introduce two pieces of legislation that I hope will be included in the 
final reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act that is passed by this 
body.
  I commend Chairman Lincoln and Ranking Member Chambliss for their 
successful efforts to produce a bipartisan and fully paid for Child 
Nutrition Reauthorization bill--a bill that won unanimous support in 
the Agriculture Committee where it passed this past March.
  The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is critically important to 
the health, well-being, and even education of our nation's children. It 
seeks to confront the challenges of hunger and obesity that are 
increasingly pervasive in our youth. Specifically, the act reauthorizes 
our nation's major Federal child nutrition programs administered by the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, including the National School 
Lunch and Breakfast Programs, the Special Supplemental Nutrition 
Program for Women, Infants and Children, WIC, the Child and Adult Care 
Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program.
  Totaling $4.5 billion in additional funding over the next 10 years, 
the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is the largest new investment in 
child nutrition programs since their inception--and it is completely 
paid for by off-sets in other USDA programs. This added funding will 
allow for an increase in reimbursement rates for school meals, which is 
an important provision since current reimbursement rates fall short of 
the funding schools need in order to provide nutritious meals with 
fresh fruits and vegetables to students. The bill also makes mandatory 
the funding authorized in the Child Nutrition Act to help schools 
establish school gardens and source local foods through ``farm to 
cafeteria'' efforts.
  Beyond funding, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act makes enrollment 
into the free school meals program automatic for foster children and 
for students already enrolled in Medicaid. The bill further promotes 
the establishment of school wellness policies, and allows the USDA to 
set school nutrition standards for all foods, including those sold a la 
carte, in vending machines and during special events such as 
afterschool sports.
  While this bill, combined with the President's request of $10 billion 
for child nutrition programs over the next 10 years, represents a huge 
step toward a healthier population of young people, I believe there is 
room for even more improvement. To this end, I am today introducing the 
Child Nutrition Enhancement Act, and the Ensuring All Students Year-
Round, EASY, Access to Meals and Snacks Act. These two bills will help 
schools ramp up their nutrition and health programs, and ensure that 
kids have access to food, even on weekends and holidays when they 
cannot get meals at school. These bills also enjoy House support, with 
Representatives Polis and Larsen already having introduced companions 
in that chamber.
  The Child Nutrition Enhancement Act would expand the Team Nutrition 
Networks program, a USDA program that provides grants to school 
districts to support State Wellness and Nutrition Networks in schools 
that conduct nutrition education and enhance school wellness. To allow 
this expansion, the bill includes mandatory funding at a level of 1 
cent per reimbursable meal through National School Lunch Program, Child 
and Adult Care Food Program, and Summer Food Service Program, totaling 
approximately $70 million per year. Such funding would be used for 
State staff and programs, formula-based grants and USDA administration.
  The Ensuring All Students Year-round Access to Meals and Snacks Act 
would allow local government agencies and private nonprofit 
organizations to feed children meals and snacks 365 days-a-year through 
the Summer Food Service Program, whether it be after school, on 
weekends and school holidays, or during the summer. School supplemental 
food providers find that children often go hungry on weekends and 
school holidays because their main source of nutrition is the free 
school lunch program. This bill would allow food service programs to 
fill in the gaps on holidays and weekends when kids are likely to miss 
meals, and ease the administrative burden of food service programs by 
allowing year round meals and snacks through the Summer Food Service 
Program, rather the current requirement to switch back and forth 
between the Summer Food Service Program and other child nutrition 
programs such as the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
  With September 30th as the looming deadline for reauthorization of 
the Child Nutrition Act, I call on my colleagues and the leadership in 
the Senate to expedite the debate and passage of the Healthy, Hunger-
Free Kids Act. I look forward to working with the Agriculture Committee 
and the Senate leadership to include the Child Nutrition Enhancement 
Act, and the EASY Access to Meals and Snacks Act in the final bill, and 
to complete the legislative process for this important reauthorization.
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