New Child Nutrition Program Announced
Bipartisan bill is largest nutrition investment ever.
Compiled by staff
Published: Mar 19, 2010
U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., the Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, has unveiled the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, a bipartisan, fiscally responsible bill making the largest investment in federal child nutrition programs to date: $4.5 billion over ten years. The legislation aims to ensure all children eligible for nutrition programs are actually participating, improve the quality of meal benefits, and modernize and improve the integrity of the programs. Lincoln points out that the legislation is fully paid for.
While he likes the general direction of the legislation, the Senate Ag Committee's Ranking Member, Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., says he has concerns with some of the offsets used to fund the measure and looks forward to addressing those concerns before the markup next week. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack called the bipartisan announcement a very positive step forward.
Lincoln says the bill also invests heavily in new initiatives designed to automatically enroll more eligible low-income children with our National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs and includes a major expansion of after school feeding programs. In making the announcement, Lincoln said that this proposal is a monumental step forward to end childhood hunger and address the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States.
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