[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 31, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             END HUNGER NOW

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, my two sisters are public school 
teachers. They taught me that school breakfast and lunches are every 
bit as important as a textbook or a laptop to that child's ability to 
learn.
  During the pandemic, Congress wisely provided 30 million kids free 
meals at school, but last spring that provision expired.
  Most schools had to go back to onerous paperwork and millions of kids 
stopped getting free meals. I urge USDA to make it easier for States to 
adopt universal school meals, including by lowering the threshold for 
community eligibility.
  California, Maine, and soon Colorado already made universal school 
meals permanent. Three other States, including Massachusetts, have 
extended universal meals through this school year.
  Massachusetts is working to make the program permanent with 
legislation recently introduced by State Rep. Andy Vargas and State 
Senator Sal DiDomenico.
  Madam Speaker, we have a sacred responsibility to keep kids fed, and 
I am hopeful that one day soon we can pass a universal school meals 
bill here in the United States Congress. Together, we can end hunger 
now.

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