[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 21, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S3689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. Heitkamp):
  S. 1402. 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 to join my colleague from 
North Dakota, Senator Heitkamp, in sponsoring 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 and more than 14 million eat school 
breakfasts, with participation rising steadily in Maine and nationwide. 
In Maine, 48 percent of children qualify for free or reduced-price 
meals based on household income.
  Moreover, the food served at schools affects children's health and 
well-being. Many children consume up to half their daily caloric intake 
at school and some 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, which may have a lifelong effect on their 
health as they grow to adulthood.
  In response to these health concerns, our schools have stepped up. 
For example, in the New Sweden Consolidated School in Aroostook County, 
Maine, food service manager Melanie Lagasse prepares meals from scratch 
instead of opening cans or pushing a defrost button. The school's 64 
students, aged preschool to 8th 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. Schools built decades ago often lack the 
equipment and infrastructure necessary to do more than reheat and serve 
one or two meal options each day.
  To serve healthier meals, 99 percent of Maine school districts need 
to acquire at least one piece of equipment and almost 50 percent of 
districts need kitchen infrastructure upgrades. The median equipment 
need per school alone is $45,000. Making the required changes to 
infrastructure is even more costly, with 41 percent of schools needing 
more physical space, 22 percent more electrical capacity, 21 percent 
more plumbing capacity, and 19 percent more ventilation.
  It is estimated that $58.8 million would be necessary just in Maine 
for the equipment and infrastructure upgrades needed to serve healthy 
meals to all of our students. That far exceeds the $89,000 in grants 
that the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Maine last fiscal year. 
Maine is not alone. In a recent survey of school nutrition directors, 
the most frequently cited financial concern was equipment costs, 
ranking higher than even labor and food costs.
  The School Food Modernization Act seeks to help food service 
personnel offer a wide variety of nutritious and appealing meals and 
snacks to all students. First, the bill would establish a loan 
guarantee assistance program within USDA to help schools acquire new 
equipment to prepare and serve healthier meals. Second, it would 
provide targeted grant assistance to provide the seed funding needed to 
upgrade kitchen infrastructure or to purchase high-quality equipment 
such as commercial ovens, steamers, and stoves. Finally, to aid school 
food service personnel in running successful, healthy programs, the 
legislation would authorize 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
  Senator Heitkamp and I appreciate that provisions of this legislation 
were incorporated into the Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation 
that was passed out of the Agriculture Committee last Congress. We 
encourage our colleagues to continue to support school kitchen 
equipment needs as the reauthorization process continues.
  Mr. President, if our school children are going to be able to learn 
and compete, they need to be healthy and their minds and bodies fully 
nourished. This bill would help us achieve that goal.

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