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CHILD NUTRITION

April 27, 2016
Floor Statements

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, more than 60 years ago, Congress responded to the Defense Department's concern that so many children were malnourished, they would be unfit for military service, that they passed the National School Lunch Act as a measure of national security to safeguard the health and well-being of our Nation's children.

Through the enactment of the first Federal child nutrition program, Congress recognized that feeding hungry children is not just a moral imperative, it is vital to the health and security of our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I serve as the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Our committee is tasked with making sure that all children have an equal shot at success, so it is only fitting that child nutrition programs fall within our committee's jurisdiction.

Just as there is a Federal role in ensuring that all children have access to quality education, regardless of where they live, what they look like, or their family's income, there is also a Federal role in ensuring that every child has access to healthy and nutritious food.

Research has repeatedly shown us that a lack of adequate consumption of specific foods, especially fruits and vegetables, is associated with lower grades among students; and child obesity affects all aspects of a child's life, from their physical well-being to their academic success and self-confidence.

So we have a choice to make. We can put money into these programs now and support healthy eating in schools, or we can cut corners and spend more money down the road on chronic diseases and other social services, putting the well-being of our children and our Nation's future at risk.

Either way, we will spend the money. In fact, researchers estimate that $19,000 was the incremental lifetime medical costs of an obese child relative to a normal weight child who maintains that normal weight throughout adulthood. So it is important to keep this tradeoff in mind as we talk about reauthorization of child nutrition programs.

The hallmark of a good reauthorization is that it makes progress; it moves us forward; it builds on what works and improves on what needs to be improved. So with this in mind, Democrats are ready to make improvements to the child nutrition programs and to protect the progress that has been made.

For example, we have made progress in creating a healthier school environment for students. The nutrition standards enacted after the 2010 bipartisan reauthorization are working. Around 99 percent of all schools are meeting the standards. Kids are eating better foods. Studies show that kids are eating up to 16 percent more vegetables and 23 percent more fruit at lunch.

Now, unfortunately, many are now advocating that we roll back the standards, and the Republican draft bill released last week makes numerous steps backwards by making less nutritious foods available in schools.

Another example of progress is the community eligibility provision. Enacted in the 2010 reauthorization, the community eligibility provision, or CEP, allows schools to provide free nutritious meals to all students without using the paper applications when a large portion of the students are deemed eligible because they are already receiving certain social benefits.

Schools love this, teachers love this, families love it, and kids love it. So why go backwards?

Again, unfortunately, the Republican bill does just that by making it harder for schools to use CEP, kicking thousands of schools out of CEP and back into the individualized paper application process.

So we are talking about a hugely popular option for schools that improves the health of children, makes everyone's job easier. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And if it ain't broke, you shouldn't make a special effort to try to break it.

Our work on reauthorization of our school nutrition programs represents a great opportunity to continue to change the way children eat, to expand their access to nutritious meals, and to end the child hunger crisis in our Nation.

So we should ask ourselves if these are goals that we are willing to compromise or whether we will continue on that path that has resulted in healthier schools and communities.

The success of these programs are too many to mention, but it is my hope that we will continue to build on our success and invest in the future of our country.

Issues:Committee on Education and WorkforceEducationHealth Care