[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 24, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S1077]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. Heitkamp):
  S. 540. 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 and 
colleague 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 school day. In Maine, 40 percent of children qualify for 
free or reduced-price meals based on household income.
  The food served at schools to these children affects 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 conditions may have a lifelong effect on their health 
as they grow to adulthood.
  In response to concerns about the health of our children, our schools 
have stepped up to the plate. Nationwide, schools are working 
diligently to meet the new U.S. Department of Agriculture 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 
meatloaf that she makes fresh.
  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 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. 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.
  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 
$111,000 in grants that the USDA awarded Maine during the last two 
fiscal years for new equipment.
  Our bill authorizes loan guarantee assistance and grants for school 
equipment and infrastructure improvements, thereby helping food service 
personnel meet 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, the bill 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 
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, including online 
programs.
  We need to start our school children off on the right food every day. 
If they are going to be able to learn and compete, they need to be 
healthy and their minds and bodies fully nourished. This bill will help 
us achieve that goal.
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