[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6663-6666]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1415
       SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING NATIONAL SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAM

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 210) expressing the sense of the House of 
Representatives that providing breakfast in schools through the 
National School Breakfast Program has a positive impact on classroom 
performance.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 210

       Whereas breakfast program participants under the Child 
     Nutrition Act of 1966 include public, private, elementary, 
     middle, and high schools, as well as rural, suburban, and 
     urban schools;
       Whereas at least 16,000 schools that participate in the 
     National School Lunch Program do not participate in the 
     National School Breakfast Program;
       Whereas in fiscal year 2008, 8,520,000 students in the 
     United States consumed free or reduced-price school 
     breakfasts provided under the national school breakfast 
     program established by section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act 
     of 1966;
       Whereas less than half of the low-income students who 
     participate in the National School Lunch Program also 
     participate in the school breakfast program;
       Whereas in fiscal year 2008, 60 percent of school lunches 
     served, and 80 percent of school breakfasts served, were 
     served to students who qualified for free or reduced priced 
     meals;
       Whereas the current economic situation, including the 
     increase of nearly 3 percent in the national unemployment 
     rate in 2008, is causing more families to struggle to feed 
     their children and to turn to schools for assistance;
       Whereas implementing or improving classroom breakfast 
     programs have been shown to increase the participation of 
     eligible students in breakfast consumption dramatically, 
     doubling, and in some cases tripling, numbers, as evidenced 
     by research in Minnesota, New York, and Wisconsin;
       Whereas making breakfast widely available through different 
     venues or a combination thereof, such as in the classroom, 
     obtained as students exit their school bus, or outside the 
     classroom, has been shown to lessen the stigma of receiving 
     free or reduced-price breakfast, which often prevents 
     eligible students from obtaining traditional breakfast in the 
     cafeteria;
       Whereas providing free universal breakfast, especially in 
     the classroom, has been shown to significantly increase 
     school breakfast participation rates and decrease absences 
     and tardiness;
       Whereas studies have shown that access to nutritious 
     programs such as the National School Lunch Program and 
     National School Breakfast Program helps to create a strong 
     learning environment for children and helps to improve 
     children's concentration in the classroom;
       Whereas providing breakfast in the classroom has been shown 
     in several instances to improve attentiveness and academic 
     performance, while reducing tardiness and disciplinary 
     referrals;
       Whereas students who eat a complete breakfast have been 
     shown to make fewer mistakes and work faster in math 
     exercises than those who eat a partial breakfast;
       Whereas studies suggest that eating breakfast closer to 
     classroom and test-taking time improves student performance 
     on standardized tests relative to students who skip 
     breakfast;
       Whereas studies show that students who skip breakfast are 
     more likely to have difficulty distinguishing among similar 
     images, show increased errors, and have slower memory recall;
       Whereas children who live in families that experience 
     hunger have been shown to be more likely to have lower math 
     scores, face an increased likelihood of repeating a grade, 
     and receive more special education services;
       Whereas studies suggest that children who eat breakfast 
     have more adequate nutrition and intake of nutrients, such as 
     calcium, fiber, protein, and vitamins A, E, D, and B-6;
       Whereas studies show that children who participate in 
     school breakfast programs eat more fruits, drink more milk, 
     and consume less saturated fat than those who do not eat 
     breakfast;
       Whereas children who fail to eat breakfast, whether in 
     school or at home, are more likely to be overweight than 
     children who eat a healthy breakfast on a daily basis; and
       Whereas March 2 through March 6, 2009, is National School 
     Breakfast Week: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes the importance of the National School 
     Breakfast Program and its overall positive effect on the 
     lives of low-income children and families, as well as its 
     effect on helping to improve a child's overall classroom 
     performance;
       (2) expresses support for States that have successfully 
     implemented school breakfast programs in order to improve the 
     test scores and grades of its participating students;
       (3) encourages States to strengthen their school breakfast 
     programs by improving access for students, to promote 
     improvements in the nutritional quality of breakfasts served, 
     and to inform students and parents of healthy nutritional and 
     lifestyle choices;
       (4) recognizes the need to provide States with resources to 
     improve the availability of adequate and nutritious 
     breakfasts;
       (5) recognizes the impact of nonprofit and community 
     organizations that work to increase awareness of, and access 
     to, breakfast programs for low-income children; and
       (6) recognizes that National School Breakfast Week helps 
     draw attention to the need for, and success of, the National 
     School Breakfast Program.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Woolsey) and the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.


                             General Leave

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which 
Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H. Res. 
210 into the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 210, a resolution 
expressing the sense of Congress that providing breakfast in school has 
a positive impact on classroom performance.
  We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. 
Good nutrition is an essential part of a child's ability to grow and to 
thrive. According to the Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition, 
hungry children have less energy for cognitive and social activities, 
which undermines their ability to learn.
  The National School Breakfast Program was established as a pilot 
program by the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and made permanent in 1975. 
The program was created to ensure that all low-income students start 
the school day with a nutritious breakfast and enter the classroom 
ready to learn.
  Over the last five decades, Mr. Speaker, the National School 
Breakfast Program has continued to grow. It now operates in more than 
85,000 public and nonprofit schools and residential care institutions 
nationwide. In 2007 over 10 million children participated in the 
National School Breakfast Program each and every day.
  Feeding our children a nutritious breakfast is one of the most 
important ways we can ensure that students get the most out of their 
education. Eating close to the start of the school day has improved 
students' memory, problem-

[[Page 6664]]

solving skills, and performance on standardized tests.
  In addition to improving academic performance, Mr. Speaker, school 
breakfast programs have been shown to decrease absences, tardiness, and 
disciplinary problems among all students. In the State of Maryland, for 
example, referrals to the office decreased by 20 percent when classroom 
breakfast programs were implemented.
  Children who eat a nutritious breakfast have better overall 
nutrition, maintain higher levels of important nutrients, and are less 
likely to be overweight than children who do not eat breakfast, 
combating child obesity, which is so important to our country. And in 
the past two decades, the number of overweight American children, Mr. 
Speaker, age 6 to 11 has actually doubled.
  Making certain that children eat a healthy and nutritious breakfast 
is an important part of the effort to solve the public health crisis. 
Across the Nation millions of children go to school hungry every single 
day. Although 80 percent of institutions that operate a school lunch 
program also offer a school breakfast program, participation is much 
lower in the breakfast program. Only about one in three students who 
qualify for the free and reduced lunch program actually receive 
breakfast at school. Participation is low because of a variety of 
reasons, including inadequate time for an in-school meal and the stigma 
attached to eating breakfast at school.
  Mr. Speaker, as a strong supporter of the school breakfast program, 
I've always believed that every child should be able to participate in 
program. I helped to establish a pilot program to test the benefits of 
a universal school breakfast program in six school districts, including 
Santa Rosa in my congressional district. And I strongly support 
providing breakfast for every child, regardless of need.
  Providing nutritious breakfasts is a simple but important way to make 
sure students are more successful in school and helps to set them on 
the path toward a healthy lifestyle. By making breakfast more widely 
available, we would be able to share these educational, behavioral, and 
nutritional benefits with even more of our Nation's young people.
  Mr. Speaker, once again I express my support for the National School 
Breakfast Program, and I thank my colleague Congresswoman Moore for 
introducing this important resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 210, 
expressing the sense of the House that providing breakfast in schools 
through the National School Breakfast Program has a positive impact on 
classroom performance.
  Created as a pilot program in 1966 and made permanent in 1975, the 
National School Breakfast Program helps schools serve breakfast to 
``nutritionally needy'' children. The program focuses on those schools 
where assistance is needed to provide adequate nutrition for students. 
In fiscal year 2007, over 10.1 million children participated in the 
school breakfast program each day. Of those, 8.1 million received their 
meals for free or at a reduced price. Participation has steadily grown 
over the years from only half a million children in 1970.
  The School Breakfast Program is administered in nearly 84,000 schools 
and institutions by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and 
Nutrition Service through State education agencies, in agreements with 
local school food authorities.
  Public or nonprofit private schools serving grades K-12 and public or 
nonprofit private residential child care institutions may participate 
in the school breakfast program. School districts and independent 
schools that choose to take part in the breakfast program receive cash 
subsidies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for each meal they 
serve. In return, they must serve breakfasts that meet Federal 
requirements, and they must offer free or reduced-price breakfasts to 
eligible children.
  Last week schools throughout the country celebrated National School 
Breakfast Week. During the week, school cafeterias nationwide 
encouraged students to begin their day with a healthful, nutritious 
school breakfast.
  While many States that have implemented school breakfast programs 
have seen encouraging outcomes, the problem of childhood hunger 
persists. The Federal child nutrition programs are helping to end 
childhood hunger and promote nutrition and wellness, especially in 
terms of assisting those most in need of beneficial nutrition.
  I stand in support of this resolution recognizing the importance of 
the National School Breakfast Program and the positive impact a 
nutritious breakfast can have on a child's ability to learn, grow, and 
develop to their fullest potential.
  I ask for my colleagues' support.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin, Gwen Moore.
  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my 
strong support for the National School Breakfast Program, H. Res. 210.
  This resolution really elucidates the importance of school breakfast 
programs and their positive impact on a child's overall academic 
performance. And, again, I want to thank the Education and Labor 
Committee for bringing this resolution forward in honor of National 
School Breakfast Week.
  Mr. Speaker, every 35 seconds a child is born into poverty in the 
United States of America. In fact, as a Nation, we have seen an 
increase in children living in poverty up to nearly 3 million children, 
with children representing a disproportionate share of the poor in the 
United States, as they're 25 percent of the total population but 35 
percent of the poor in our population.
  And to the extent that the parents of children are responsible for 
their well-being, the unemployment rate, which has risen from 7.6 
percent to 8.1 percent and just in the last month losing 651,000 jobs, 
3.6 million jobs lost in the last year, this has caused families to 
struggle even more to feed their children, and they need to turn to 
schools for this much-needed assistance.
  I can tell you that a study done by the Massachusetts General 
Hospital in conjunction with Harvard Medical School concluded that 
children who are at nutritional risk have significantly poorer 
attendance, punctuality, and grades. But it also showed that these same 
parents that are responsible for taking care of them self report that 
food insufficiency means that their children have repeated a grade in 
school, they have lower scores on standardized tests, lower grades in 
math, and more days tardy and absent from school.
  Studies have also shown that students who fail to eat an adequate 
breakfast increase their chances for being overweight than children who 
eat a healthy breakfast on a daily basis.
  Fortunately, Mr. Speaker, these data show that providing breakfast in 
school has been able to improve attentiveness and academic performance 
while reducing tardiness and disciplinary referrals.
  I just want to mention that these school breakfasts must meet the 
nutritional standards under the dietary guidelines for Americans, which 
recommend no more than 30 percent of an individual's calories come from 
fat and less than 10 percent from saturated fat. In addition, breakfast 
must provide one-fourth of the recommended daily allowance for protein, 
calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, and calories. And I mention this 
because this might be the best meal the children have all day long.
  I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that providing availability, 
accessibility, and participation in the school breakfast program are 
some of the best ways to support the health and educational potential 
of children, particularly low-income children. In my own State of 
Wisconsin, we saw a significant increase in school breakfast 
participation with a 25.3 percent growth rate, and this is largely due 
to our efforts in our State

[[Page 6665]]

to implement universal classroom breakfasts in most of our Milwaukee 
public elementary schools.
  Let me conclude by saying this and reminding the body of this, Mr. 
Speaker, that though our country is in the midst of a tough economic 
time, no child in our community or across the country should ever go to 
school hungry. When our children are able to eat quality meals in the 
morning, we see improvements in math and reading scores as well as 
cognitive skills. If our children are going to be able to compete in a 
global environment, we need to do everything we can to make sure that 
they succeed. It's clear that there is a definite need for school 
breakfast programs right alongside our educational programs.
  Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania, Congresswoman Dahlkemper.
  Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House 
Resolution 210, supporting the goals and accomplishments of the 
National School Breakfast Program.
  The National School Breakfast Program continues to play an important 
role in the health and educational development of our Nation's children 
by giving them a nutritious start every morning.
  Research has shown that students who eat breakfast are more likely to 
show academic improvement and be more attentive in the classroom, but 
having access to a nutritious breakfast also does something else as 
important. The National School Breakfast Program is at the heart of 
promoting healthy lifestyle choices for our children. They learn the 
importance of healthful food choices that can prevent further 
complications of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other lifestyle 
diseases.
  Healthy kids make healthy adults, and that is why I am proud to 
support this resolution and urge my colleagues to support it also.

                              {time}  1430

  Ms. WOOLSEY. I would like to know if the gentleman from Kentucky has 
any further speakers?
  Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to 
recognize the important role the National School Breakfast Program 
plays in the education and health of our Nation's children.
  I would like to say that it's obvious that if you eat a good 
breakfast you are much better prepared to learn, to focus, to behave 
yourself, even want to come to school, you want to be there on time. I 
can tell you from the breakfast pilot program that President Clinton 
signed into law that was my legislation, and the six districts around 
the country that had the program in effect for 3 years, it proved 
itself.
  The administrators thought it was the best thing, the principals 
thought it was the best, the teachers and the kids loved it, and they 
were provided a balanced meal. I remember going to one of the schools 
in my district during the breakfast time, it was around 10:15 in the 
morning, they had been to their first classes and came out for this 
breakfast, all kids, not just poor. It had nothing to do with economic 
status.
  There was a group of fifth and sixth graders sitting around the 
table, and I went over to talk to them and I said, what are you guys 
talking about? And they said, we're talking politics. I mean, they were 
having the best time. They were thinking. They were excited. Some of 
them ate two breakfasts every day because their parents actually fed 
them breakfast. That was the downside of the program was that all these 
kids didn't have to have breakfast, but we learned later that middle 
school and high school are the kids that really don't eat breakfast.
  So we are going to be working and building on this program and 
ensuring that in the United States of America, the wealthiest country 
on the globe, we will, indeed, be able to feed all of our children so 
that they are the best learners this country can provide.
  Mr. SPACE. Mr. Speaker, this Resolution underscores the importance 
that the National School Breakfast Program has for classroom 
participation and student performance. The recent increase in children 
and families needing food assistance highlights the continuing 
necessity of these programs to keep America's students healthy, 
attentive and productive in school. More resources are needed in order 
to provide low-income children with the same opportunities for 
educational success as their peers. These efforts are critical to 
decreasing the hunger problems in our country while working to increase 
educational attainment levels.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 210 seeks to express 
the sense of the House of Representatives that providing breakfast in 
schools through the National School Breakfast Program has a positive 
impact on classroom performance. I salute my colleague, Rep. Moore from 
Wisconsin, in her efforts to promote the National School Breakfast 
Program, and to recognize the positive impact that it has on our 
students. I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution.
  It has often been said that the children are our future. As Members 
of Congress and adults, we must do all that we can to provide their 
well-being, safety, and excellence in school.
  A former U.S. Surgeon General once articulated, ``This is expensive 
stupidity . . . trying to educate children with half starved bodies.'' 
While educators, parents and policymakers generally agree that children 
need breakfast in order to learn, function and grow, the nation still 
has a ways to go to insure that all needy and at-risk children receive 
a daily school breakfast. While nearly 100,000 individual schools 
across the country offer a school lunch, more than 15,000 of them still 
do not make breakfast available to children who are in need. In some 
states, only 50-60% of the schools serving students lunch also provide 
them with a breakfast to start the day.
  We must endorse programs aimed to enhance the educational welfare of 
our children. As President Obama recently stated in his first address 
to a joint session of Congress, ``These education policies will open 
the doors of opportunity for our children. But it is up to us to ensure 
they walk through them.''
  Beginning over twenty years ago, and continuing today, scholarly 
research has established that the School Breakfast Program 
significantly improves the cognitive abilities and learning capacities 
of children. Matched controlled studies, for example, indicate that 
low-income children who receive school breakfasts do significantly 
better on a variety of indicators than low-income peers who go without 
breakfasts. Notably, the better outcomes associated with school 
breakfast include both educational preparedness (attendance, energy, 
alertness, memory) and educational outcome measures (math scores, 
grades, reading ability).
  When a child misses even one meal, let alone experiences chronic food 
shortages, impairments occur whether they are lethargy and inattention, 
tiredness and distraction, or actual physical symptoms such as 
stomachaches and headaches. The research from the United States 
Department of Agriculture shows that feeding children breakfast in 
school helps to prevent these adverse outcomes. Children getting 
breakfast at school also are sick less often, have fewer problems 
associated with hunger, such as dizziness, stomachaches and ear aches, 
and do significantly better than their peers who do not get a school 
breakfast in terms of cooperation, discipline and inter-personal 
behaviors.
  Mr. Speaker, our failure to fully utilize the School Breakfast 
Program has substantial costs, costs that greatly reduce the return on 
educational investment in communities and states across the nation. 
Moreover, longer-term costs also are borne by young children who arrive 
at school unable to fully participate in the educational process due to 
lack of adequate nutrition.
  We, as Members of Congress, cannot allow for a matter such as child 
hunger, which we as Congress can help eradicate, to act as an 
impediment to the education of our children. President Obama 
articulated very fittingly, that ``in a global economy where the most 
valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no 
longer just a pathway to opportunity--it is a pre-requisite.''
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 210, expressing 
the sense of the House of Representatives that providing breakfast in 
schools through the National School Breakfast Program has a positive 
impact on classroom performance, because the School Breakfast Program 
represents a key way to protect these children and to get a better 
return on educational investments as well.

[[Page 6666]]

  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 
210, Recognizing the importance of the National School Lunch Program 
and commend my colleague, Rep. Gwen Moore for bringing this measure 
before the House.
  This important program provides breakfast to over 8 million children 
through either free or reduced-price meals in approximately 16,000 
schools. With the current economic crisis, working families are facing 
challenges they never expected. Last week, the Department of Labor 
announced the U.S. economy lost 651,000 jobs in February, and the 
unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent, its highest point in since 1983. 
These job losses make it even harder for some families to feed their 
children--so they turn to schools for help. We know that children who 
live in families that experience hunger have been shown to be more 
likely to have lower math scores, face an increased likelihood of 
repeating a grade, and receive more special education services.
  We've learned over the years that making breakfast widely available 
through different venues, such as in the classroom, or as students exit 
their school bus, or outside the classroom, has been shown to diminish 
the stigma of receiving free or reduced-price breakfast, which often 
prevents eligible students from getting a traditional breakfast in 
school cafeterias.
  Providing breakfast in the classroom can improve attentiveness and 
academic performance, while reducing tardiness and disciplinary 
referrals. Students who eat a complete breakfast have been shown to 
make fewer mistakes and work faster in math exercises than those who 
eat a partial breakfast. Students who skip breakfast are more likely to 
have difficulty distinguishing among similar images, show increased 
errors, and have slower memory recall. Studies have shown that access 
to nutritious programs such as the National School Lunch Program and 
National School Breakfast Program helps to create a strong learning 
environment for children and helps to improve children's concentration 
in the classroom.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an incredibly important program with a well-
documented track record of success. I'm pleased to add my voice of 
support for the National School Breakfast Program and I will be working 
with my colleagues to make sure that we provide the resources necessary 
to provide the benefits of this program to every hungry child who needs 
breakfast at school.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 210.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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