[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 156 (Thursday, December 2, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2039-E2040]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HEALTHY, HUNGER-FREE KIDS ACT OF 2010

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. JUDY CHU

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 1, 2010

  Ms. CHU. Madam Speaker, I am very proud that the legislation before 
us includes Important new options for high-poverty schools to provide 
free meals to all students. These new options, known as community 
eligibility, will reduce hassles for schools and stigma for students. 
They will allow schools serving our poorest communities to throw open 
the cafeteria doors and focus on serving the healthiest possible meals 
to all their students.
  Right now, low-income children who qualify for free school lunches 
have to apply for this program and prove that they are eligible. 
Schools then have to process the paperwork and certify that the 
children qualify. But the community eligibility provisions in this bill 
minimize all that paperwork both for children and for schools. In 
schools where there are large numbers of children who qualify for free 
school lunches, schools would have the option to provide free school 
lunches to all the children in the school. This option is much more 
efficient--children don't have to worry about whether they qualify for 
the program, their parents don't have to complete the paperwork, and 
school personnel can focus on providing the children with the best 
education instead of processing paperwork. This is a better way and 
it's the children that benefit the most.
  Low-income children contend with so many stressors in their lives, 
whether it's violence and addiction in their neighborhoods, parents who 
are working long hours for the basic necessities of living, or the 
stress children experience when they don't have enough to eat. The 
community eligibility provision in this bill makes our most 
disadvantaged children's lives a little easier by transforming their 
lunchtime experience from one of stress and stigma, to one of easy 
access to the food they need to develop to their fullest potential. 
These options are designed to be simple and easy to adopt. USDA must 
make it as seamless as possible for high-poverty schools to avail 
themselves of these new options.
  The bill that we passed out of the House Committee on Education and 
Labor directed USDA to provide outreach and informational materials on 
these new options to local educational agencies and schools in which a 
significant portion of students are eligible for free or reduced price 
meals, including those receiving funds for school improvement under 
section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965. But USDA 
does not need new authority to reach out to these schools and 
facilitate their use of community eligibility. Therefore I urge USDA to 
set policies that welcome high-poverty schools into these options and 
provide the support and materials to facilitate their implementation.

[[Page E2040]]

  S. 3307 also includes a demonstration project to explore the use of 
Medicaid data for automatic enrollment for free school meals. Due to 
limited funds, the demonstration project in S. 3307 focuses on the use 
of Medicaid data by selected school districts around the country. 
However, I urge USDA to use alternative authority to allow California 
to conduct a statewide demonstration directly certifying children for 
free school meals based on Medicaid data. California's sophisticated 
data matching system is fully capable of conducting statewide matches 
to directly certify these children. A rigorous evaluation of such a 
demonstration project would help other states implement statewide 
direct certification using Medicaid data.
  I must also express my deep regret that this bill is partly funded by 
reducing SNAP benefits. Although I support passage of this legislation, 
I oppose the SNAP cuts it contains, will work to reverse them, and will 
strongly oppose any further cuts to SNAP benefits.

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