On June 23, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a bill (S. 2507) to reauthorize child nutrition programs set to expire later this year. The House approved the measure without objection on June 24. It will now go to the White House for President Bush’s signature.
Sponsored by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 would authorize such sums as necessary through FY2008 to carry out the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the After School Snack Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
The measure would streamline the process by which students qualify for free and reduced price lunches. It would provide automatic certification for children of food stamp recipients, and would allow schools to “directly certify” children of welfare recipients, homeless children, children served by the consolidated runaway and homeless youth programs, and migrant children. Parents would be permitted to submit a single application for more than one child and would be allowed to file electronically.
The bill would authorize the secretary of agriculture to provide grants to states for promoting good nutrition in the child nutrition programs. Schools would be required to administer the programs in compliance with the new federal Dietary Guidelines.
The measure would require the secretary to “partner” with communities, state and local agencies, and health care professionals to build a supportive breastfeeding environment for women participating in the WIC program. The measure also would require the secretary to obligate up to $64 million for breastfeeding promotion and to make other improvements to the WIC program, and to provide special nutrition education to WIC participants, including breastfeeding counselors. The bill would allow breastfeeding women to qualify for WIC for up to one year postpartum.
The bill would authorize $9 million over five years to renew the fruit and vegetable pilot program and expand it into three additional states and two Indian reservations. The measure also would authorize $15 million for a school garden grant pilot project to teach children the importance of “specialty crops” to a healthy diet. The measure would require the secretary to conduct pilot projects in selected elementary and secondary schools to create “healthy school nutrition environments” and to assess the effectiveness of these environments on the health and well-being of children in the schools. The bill also would require the secretary to conduct a pilot project to enhance obesity prevention activities for child care centers providing services to non-English-proficient children. Finally, the measure would require the secretary to carry out a pilot project under which the income eligibility limit for free breakfasts and lunches would be raised to 185 percent of the federal poverty level.
Sen. Cochran said that the programs authorized under the bill “touch the lives of one out of every five people in this country, including over 37 million children and nearly 2 million lower income pregnant and postpartum women. According to the Congressional Research Service, total fiscal year 2004 spending for these programs will be an estimated $16.4 billion, and the administration’s fiscal year 2005 budget anticipates spending at $16.85 billion.”
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) expressed his support for provisions in the bill to combat obesity in youth. “In the United States, we face an unfortunate paradox. On the one hand, the specter of malnutrition and hunger continues to haunt millions of Americans, especially children. At the same time, we are confronted with a grave public health threat in the form of obesity, which [is] quickly becoming a major threat not just to individuals but to our Nation as a whole. The reauthorization of child nutrition programs affords us an opportunity to tackle [this issue].”
