Congress Approves Child Nutrition Bill

[Guest guest]

Congress gave final approval on Thursday to a child nutrition bill that

expands the school lunch program and sets new standards to improve the

quality of school meals, with more fruits and vegetables.

Obama lobbied for the bill as a way to combat obesity and hunger.

About half of the $4.5 billion cost is financed by a cut in food stamps

starting in several years.

Mrs. Obama said she was thrilled by passage of what she described as a

groundbreaking piece of legislation.

By a vote of 264 to 157, the House on Thursday passed the bill, which was

approved in the Senate by unanimous consent in August. It goes now to

President Obama, who intends to sign it.

On the final roll call, 247 Democrats and 17 Republicans voted for the bill.

Four Democrats and 153 Republicans voted no.

Some liberal House Democrats and advocates for the poor railed against the

bill in September, saying it was wrong to pay for the expansion of child

nutrition programs by cutting money for food stamps, now known as the

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Democrats put aside their disagreements on Thursday, after concluding that

it was better to take what they could get than to gamble on their chances in

the next Congress when Republicans will control the House. Mr. Obama tamped

down concern by telling Democrats he would work with them to find other ways

to pay for the bill, before the cuts in food stamps take effect.

“The president will do everything he can to restore these unconscionable

cuts,” said Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California and

chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Democrats and a few Republicans praised Mrs. Obama. “She has been an

incredible champion for our children, particularly in the areas of nutrition

and obesity,” said Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts.

Mr. McGovern, who is co-chairman of the House Hunger Caucus, said: “Hunger

and obesity are two sides of the same coin. Highly processed, empty-calorie

foods are less expensive than fresh nutritious foods.”

School meal programs have a major impact on the nation’s health, and

supporters of the bill said it could reduce the prevalence of obesity among

children. The lunch program feeds more than 31 million children a day.

Representative DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, said, “The bill sets

national nutrition standards that will finally get all of the junk food

infiltrating our classrooms and our cafeterias out the door.”

But Representative Broun, Republican of Georgia and a physician, said:

“This bill is not about child nutrition. It’s not about healthy kids. It’s

about an expansion of the federal government, more and more control from

Washington, borrowing more money and putting our children in greater debt.

The federal government has no business setting nutritional standards and

telling families what they should and should not eat.”

The bill gives the secretary of agriculture authority to establish nutrition

standards for foods sold in schools during the school day, including items

in vending machines. The standards would require schools to serve more

fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products.

And for the first time in more than three decades, the bill would increase

federal reimbursement for school lunches beyond inflation — to help cover

the cost of higher-quality meals. It would also allow more than 100,000

children on Medicaid to qualify automatically for free school meals.

One of the most contentious provisions of the bill regulates prices for

lunches served to children with family incomes over 185 percent of the

poverty level (more than $40,793 a year for a family of four).

“This provision would require some schools to raise their lunch prices,” the

Congressional Budget Office said.

Representative Kline, Republican of Minnesota, said this provision was

tantamount to a tax increase on middle-class families. The National

Governors Association and local school officials objected to it as a new

federal mandate.

But Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science

in the Public Interest, a research and advocacy group, said: “The price of

paid lunches needs to go up. Schools are not charging enough to cover the

cost. As a result, money intended to provide healthy food to low-income kids

is being diverted to subsidize food for higher-income children.”

School districts that comply with the new standards can receive an

additional federal payment of 6 cents for each lunch served. The National

School Boards Association, representing local board members, said “the

actual increased cost of compliance” was at least twice that amount.

The bill was written mainly by Senator Blanche Lincoln, Democrat of Arkansas

and chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, who lost her bid for

re-election.

The bill rounds out the tenure of Speaker Pelosi, Democrat of

California. When she took the gavel in January 2007, she was surrounded by

the children of House members, and she called the House to order in the name

of “all America’s children.”

LINK <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/us/politics/03child.html?_r=1>

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Ortiz, MS, RD

*The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

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