[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 54 (Thursday, April 3, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2164-S2165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. Heitkamp):
  S. 2210. A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make loan guarantees and 
grants to finance certain improvements to school lunch facilities, to 
train school food service personnel, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am pleased today to join my friend from 
North Dakota, Senator Heitkamp, in introducing the School Food 
Modernization Act to assist schools in providing healthier meals to 
students throughout the country.
  School meals play a vital role in the lives of our young people. More 
than 30 million children participate in the National School Lunch 
Program every schoolday. In Maine, 40 percent of children qualify for 
free or reduced-price meals based on household income.
  The food served to these children has a demonstrable effect on their 
health and well-being. Many children consume up to half their daily 
caloric intake at school. In fact, children often get their most 
nutritious meal of the day at school instead of at home.
  At the same time, too many of our children are at risk of serious 
disease. One-third of the children in this country are overweight or 
obese, which increases their risk for heart disease, high blood 
pressure, type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases. These ailments 
may have a lifelong effect on their health as they grow to adulthood.
  Given the concerns about the health of our children, the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture has issued updated school

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meal nutrition standards that call for increased servings of fruit, 
vegetables, low-fat products, and whole grains while limiting the 
intake of fats, sugar, salt, and excess calories.
  In response, our schools have stepped up to the plate. Nationwide, 
schools are working diligently to meet the standards and serve 
healthier meals. For example, in the New Sweden Consolidated School in 
Aroostook County, ME, food service manager Melanie Lagasse prepares 
meals from scratch instead of opening cans or pushing a defrost button. 
The school's 64 students, ranging from preschool to eighth grade, have 
grown to relish the chicken stew, baked fish, and whole grain pasta and 
meatloaf that she makes fresh every day.
  Many schools, however, lack the right tools for preparing meals rich 
in fresh ingredients and must rely on workarounds that are expensive, 
inefficient, and unsustainable. Schools built decades ago lack the 
tools and the infrastructure necessary to comply fully with the new 
USDA guidelines. In fact, many lack any capacity beyond reheating and 
holding food for meal service.
  To serve healthier meals to their students, 99 percent of Maine 
school districts need at least one piece of equipment and almost half--
48 percent--of districts need kitchen infrastructure upgrades. While 
some of the needs appear quite simple--food processors, knives, 
serving-portion utensils, scales, utility carts--there is still a cost. 
The median equipment need per school is $45,000.
  Even more costly would be making the required changes to 
infrastructure. Forty-eight percent of Maine schools need some kind of 
infrastructure change to serve healthy meals. For example, 41 percent 
of schools need more physical space, 22 percent need more electrical 
capacity, 21 percent need more plumbing capacity, and 19 percent need 
more ventilation. In addition, for Maine, 82 percent of school 
districts are in areas defined as rural.
  Add the equipment costs together with the infrastructure costs and it 
is estimated that overall, $58.8 million would be needed just in Maine 
to serve healthy meals to all of our students. That far exceeds the 
$74,000 grant the USDA awarded Maine in March for new equipment.
  Our bill aims to make better use of current resources by authorizing 
loan guarantee assistance and grants for school equipment and 
infrastructure improvements and by helping food service personnel meet 
the updated nutrition standards. First, it would establish a loan 
guarantee assistance program within USDA to help schools acquire new 
equipment to prepare and serve healthier, more nutritious meals to 
students. School administrators and other eligible borrowers could 
obtain Federal guarantees for 80 percent of the loan value needed to 
construct, remodel, or expand their kitchens, dining, or food storage 
infrastructure.
  Second, it would provide targeted grant assistance to give school 
administrators and food service directors the seed funding needed to 
upgrade kitchen infrastructure or to purchase high- quality, durable 
kitchen equipment such as commercial ovens, steamers, and stoves.
  Finally, to aid school food service personnel in meeting the updated 
nutrition guidelines, the legislation would strengthen training and 
provide technical assistance by authorizing USDA to provide support on 
a competitive basis to highly qualified third-party trainers to develop 
and administer training and technical assistance.
  We need to start our schoolchildren off on the right food every day. 
If they are going to compete in the global arena, they need to be 
healthy and their minds and bodies fully nourished. This bill will help 
us achieve that goal.

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