[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 77 (Wednesday, May 21, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S3239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. MURRAY:
  S. 2366. A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act to establish a permanent, nationwide summer electronic benefits 
transfer for children program; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I know that many students across the 
country are waiting on the edge of their seats and looking forward to 
school letting out shortly for their summer break. But for many of 
those kids who participate in school meal programs, the summer can be a 
pretty uncertain time--not knowing when or where they are going to get 
their next meal. It can be a stressful time for those kids' parents as 
well, who have to stretch every dollar they have to feed their family 
today.
  That is a struggle Nicole, a single mom from my home State of 
Washington, knows all too well. She has been unemployed now for about a 
year. She has two kids. She has a daughter who is finishing 
kindergarten and a son who is just finishing fifth grade. They have 
relied on SNAP benefits to help pay for their groceries and school 
meals to get help during the school year. But Nicole says that last 
summer, without school-provided meals, it was particularly difficult to 
put enough food on the table to feed her kids.
  Today I am here introducing a bill that will help families like 
Nicole's and many across the country. It is a bill to make sure more 
children can get the nutrition they need during the summer break. When 
school is in session, millions of kids from low-income families can get 
free or reduced-price meals through our National School Lunch Program. 
But during the summer, hunger goes up in this country about 34 percent 
for families with school-aged kids, according to a study.
  Right now we do have a Federal congregate summer meals program, of 
which I have long been supportive. It is called the Summer Food Service 
Program. It is very successful in some areas of our country. I always 
look forward to working with my colleagues to strengthen and expand 
that program to make sure it is reaching as many children as possible.
  But in a study from 2012, summer congregate meals programs only 
reached about 14 percent of the students who qualified for free or 
reduced-priced meals during the school year. That adds up to tens of 
millions of kids across our country who do not have access to meal 
programs in the summer.
  In my home State of Washington, just 9.8 percent of those kids 
participated in 2012. That means those kids are more likely to deal 
with hunger or food insecurity. That is unacceptable to me. When it 
comes to ensuring that our kids grow up with the nutrition they need to 
learn and to thrive, there are no excuses.
  We have to do more to fight summer hunger. That is why I am here 
today introducing legislation called the Stop Child Summer Hunger Act. 
The bill is pretty simple. It provides families with an EBT card that 
will help them afford groceries during the summer months to replace the 
meals those kids would otherwise have gotten at school. It is based on 
a very successful pilot program that has proven now to decrease hunger 
by 33 percent. Some of the demonstration projects had participation 
rates as high as 90 percent. Scaling up that program with the Stop 
Child Summer Hunger Act will help more children get the nutrition they 
need in the summer months.
  The bill is fully paid for. We do that by closing a tax loophole that 
actually encourages U.S. companies to shift our jobs and profits 
offshore. From my perspective, that is a pretty fair trade. It will 
encourage companies to keep jobs and profits here in America. At the 
same time, it will help kids get the nutrition they need during the 
summer.
  Fighting hunger, especially among kids, is an issue that is extremely 
important to me. I have told this body before that when I was just a 
teenager--15 years old--my dad, who fought in World War II, was 
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Within a few years he could not work 
any longer. My mom had to go to work and find a job. It did not pay 
anywhere near enough to support seven kids and a husband who had a 
growing stack of medical bills. So for several months when I was young, 
we had to rely on food stamps. It was not much, but I remember it 
helping to get my family by during a very tough time. So I know how 
hard it is for families who are struggling to put food on the table.
  As adults, I believe it is our moral responsibility to take care of 
our children, to make sure they can grow up healthy and to make sure 
they have every opportunity to thrive and learn. I hope we can live up 
to this responsibility by tackling this problem and helping more kids 
get the nutrition they need to live healthy lives. I hope this body can 
work with me to make sure that kids who are now looking forward to 
their summer break can enjoy it free from hunger.
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