[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 181 (Thursday, November 15, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN:
  S. 3637. A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act to establish a program for the procurement of domestically grown 
unprocessed fruits and vegetables to provide healthier school meals, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Local School 
Foods Expansion Act to establish a permanent program that will provide 
schools with locally-grown, unprocessed fruits and vegetables.
  Hunger is a huge problem in Oregon, and this pain has a huge impact 
in schools. In Oregon, one in four children experience food insecurity 
and they face a great challenge keeping up with learning on empty 
stomachs. I have supported Federal school lunch programs for many 
years, and I strongly believe that the best programs rely on local 
producers and make an effort to ensure lunches are healthy and 
nutritious.
  The Local School Foods Expansion Act is a common sense approach to 
child nutrition that empowers children while strengthening the local 
economy and contributing to vibrant communities. The bill amends the 
National School Lunch Program to make permanent a program that 
increases opportunities for lunch programs to procure locally-grown, 
unprocessed fruits and vegetables. The bill directs the Secretary of 
Agriculture to expand the very successful pilot procurement programs to 
at least 15 States, and contains a mandatory appropriation of nine 
million dollars in each fiscal year from 2019 to 2023.
  No child should be hungry in school, and it's critical that their 
meals contain nutritious fruits and vegetables. At the same time, we 
must work to maintain domestic production of fruits and vegetables by 
ensuring that hardworking farmers have a fair and reliable market for 
their produce. The Local School Foods Expansion Act tackles both 
objectives by providing hungry kids with local, unprocessed fruits and 
vegetables.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record as follows:

                                S. 3637

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Local School Foods Expansion 
     Act of 2018''.

     SEC. 2. PROGRAM FOR PROCUREMENT OF DOMESTICALLY GROWN 
                   UNPROCESSED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

       Section 6(f) of the Richard B. Russell National School 
     Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1755(f)) is amended--
       (1) in the subsection heading, by striking ``Pilot Project 
     for Procurement of'' and inserting ``Program for Procurement 
     of Domestically Grown'';
       (2) in paragraph (1)--
       (A) by striking ``pilot project'' and inserting ``program 
     (referred to in this subsection as the `program')'';
       (B) by striking ``conduct'' and inserting ``carry out'';
       (C) by inserting ``domestically grown'' before 
     ``unprocessed''; and
       (D) by striking ``more than 8'' and inserting ``less than 
     15'';
       (3) by striking ``pilot project'' each place it appears and 
     inserting ``program'';
       (4) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding subparagraph 
     (A), by inserting ``domestically grown'' before 
     ``unprocessed'';
       (5) in paragraph (4)--
       (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(D) the demonstrated ability of the States to 
     competitively procure domestically grown unprocessed fruits 
     and vegetables.'';
       (6) in paragraph (5)--
       (A) in the paragraph heading, by striking ``Recordkeeping 
     and reporting'' and inserting ``Recordkeeping, reporting, and 
     evaluation'';
       (B) in subparagraph (B)--
       (i) in clause (i), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (iii) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(iii) the challenges and opportunities presented by the 
     program in the State.''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(C) Program evaluation.--
       ``(i) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
     enactment of this subparagraph, the Secretary shall evaluate 
     the impact of the program, including with respect to--

       ``(I) the quantity and cost of each type of unprocessed 
     fruit and vegetable procured by each State under the program;
       ``(II) the benefit of the procured unprocessed fruits and 
     vegetables to school food service in each State, including 
     the benefit to meeting school meal requirements; and
       ``(III) the economic impact of the program on agricultural 
     producers in the State.

       ``(ii) Report.--Not later than 4 years after the date of 
     enactment of this subparagraph, the Secretary shall submit to 
     the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives 
     and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of 
     the Senate a report that describes the results of the 
     evaluation conducted under clause (i) and an analysis of that 
     evaluation.''; and
       (7) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(6) Funding.--
       ``(A) Mandatory funding.--There is appropriated to carry 
     out this subsection $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 
     through 2023.
       ``(B) Reservation.--Of the funds appropriated under 
     subparagraph (A) for each fiscal year, $10,000,000 shall be 
     reserved for States selected under the program under 
     paragraph (1) to carry out the activities described in 
     subparagraph (C)(i).
       ``(C) Administrative costs; technical assistance.--
       ``(i) In general.--The funds reserved under subparagraph 
     (B) shall be used--

       ``(I) for the administrative costs of carrying out the 
     program; and
       ``(II) to provide technical assistance and outreach to 
     vendors to become certified to participate in the program.

       ``(ii) Minimum allotment.--Of the funds reserved under 
     subparagraph (B), each State selected under paragraph (3)(A) 
     shall receive not less than $300,000 for each fiscal year 
     during which the State participates in the program.''.

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