[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 7, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H1211-H1212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, everywhere you go in America, education 
is a hot-button issue. Everyone has opinions about what should be 
emphasized, changed, adjusted, where we should spend more, where we 
should spend it differently. This is a reflection that Americans know 
what goes on in our schools is very important. That's where we're 
building America's future for our communities, our economy, for our 
families.
  This deep commitment to our children should extend to one area in 
schools where we should be building a future that is focusing on the 
health of these children: physical fitness, their health habits, and 
importantly, their diet.
  When it comes to the health of our children, our legacy is 
unfortunate. Too many come from families that are food insecure. One-
half of American children will, at some point in their life, be on food 
stamps. Sixty-three percent of American teachers report that each month 
they buy food for children in their classroom. Over 20 percent of 
American households are just plain hungry.
  Sadly, in my State, those percentages are even worse. Many children 
who aren't hungry per se, are hungry for the right foods. They consume 
far too many empty calories. Pizza, soda, and baked goods are the top 
three sources of calories for our children.

[[Page H1212]]

Since 1980, childhood obesity has doubled, so that today one in three 
children is overweight or obese.
  One of the most direct ways to attack the problem is in our schools, 
where over 31 million children receive over five billion meals every 
year for free and reduced lunches. Actually, they are not just fed 
lunches anymore. They are increasingly getting school breakfasts and 
now school dinners. For far too many low-income children, this is 
frankly the only place that they're going to get the food they need.
  We have to attack this problem because food in school is too often 
high in starch and does not feature fresh fruits and vegetables. 
Indeed, 40 percent of American children do not get fresh fruits and 
vegetables every day in school.
  Congress held up funding for the new nutritional guidelines. It's 
time for us to get our act together here in Congress. I would suggest 
that we might honor this National School Lunch Week and build upon the 
Hunger-Free Kids Act that we had last Congress. Don't we think we can 
do more than adding 6 cents per meal to the reimbursement rate? Can't 
we allocate more than $40 million for mandatory farm-to-school funding 
to help promote the use of local fresh fruits and vegetables? Isn't it 
time to establish stronger national nutritional standards for all foods 
provided throughout the school day? Maybe even the House would 
reconsider and pass my amendment to declare that pizza is no longer a 
vegetable for school-lunch purposes.
  We know what to do. I see it in my community in Abernathy School, as 
well as more than 40 other schools that are providing education and 
nutrition and gardening, as well as the math, reading, and science 
skills, that help kids grow, prepare, and learn to appreciate healthy 
food. This is healthy not just for the kids, but for the local economy; 
not only strengthening local farms and ranches, it creates more than 
1\1/2\ other jobs off the farm. There are now over 9,000 school 
programs nationally that are dealing with providing this vital 
connection between food, nutrition, and how kids learn.
  I think that it is time for us in Congress to stop being AWOL, to 
step forward, be more deeply involved, resist the special interests, 
and make kids' nutrition a priority.
  I think our generation ought to be thinking about what we're feeding 
kids now, when you think about what kids might be feeding us later.

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