Child Nutrition

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding and also for his long-term and longstanding commitment to child nutrition programs and to our Nation's children.

I have to say to Mr. Takano that I am not happy at all, and I don't think many of us are happy at what is taking place with regard to this Improving Child Nutrition Education Act and what is happening to our children who many go to bed hungry at night. So I thank the gentleman very much for his leadership.

Let me just say to Mr. Scott, who is our ranking member, it is very important that we recognize the gentleman's leadership and know that he is on this committee fighting each and every day to make sure that this reauthorization bill, which would take food out of mouths of American schoolchildren, does not do that. So I thank the gentleman for his fight on the committee.

Let me say just a couple of things with regard to H.R. 5003. It would turn the clock back on years of progress and prevent children from eating healthy meals every day. This Republican child nutrition bill would roll back critical, evidence-based nutrition standards made in the 2010 reauthorization bill, which we were very actively involved with.

Sadly, but unsurprisingly, it would also deny eligible children access to the Free or Reduced Price School Meals Program, and it would slash funding for some electronics benefits transfer.

I just have to say that as a young, single mother on public assistance and food stamps, I don't know what I would have done had my children not had school lunches. This was a bridge over troubled waters for me, and my children and I have to thank my government for that helping hand. But today, in 2016, this bill will roll back these programs, which means more hungry kids in our schools and in our neighborhoods.

That is why several of us are sending a letter to the Education and the Workforce Committee outlining our deep concerns with the changes to our child nutrition programs. I hope that everyone on our side of the aisle signs this important letter, and I hope that the majority will read it carefully. It lays out some of the basic problems in this bill. We want to make sure that everyone on the committee and this entire body understands the impact of what this will cause.

When we take away access to these meals, we jeopardize children's health, their educational attainment, and, really, their future. We know that children who have access to healthy meals are more likely to do well in school, have decreased behavioral problems, and come to class ready to learn. That is what we should want for all of our children.

For the children growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods and who lack equal access to healthy meals, these school meals really are a lifeline. We are not just talking about a few students. The numbers are clear. More than 15.3 million children are living in food-insecure households. Let me say that again. More than 15 million kids are at risk of going to bed hungry every night in America, the richest and most powerful country in the world.

We also know that childhood hunger is far from colorblind. Children of color are disproportionately affected by hunger every day. For example, in 2014, one in three African American children and one in four Latino children were food insecure. For children who live in rural communities, food insecurity is coupled with other barriers, like lack of access to transportation to get to summer feeding sites. More than 17 percent of rural households--that is 3.3 million households--are food insecure.

Child hunger and the lack of nutritious food is a problem that affects every child in every ZIP Code. It is endemic in our country, in rural, urban, and suburban schools. Every Member of Congress has constituents who are hungry. This should be a priority for all of us.

I have seen the impact of food insecurity in my own community in Oakland, California, where one in four children at the Oakland Unified School District do not have access to affordable, nutritious food. These families are forced to make impossible choices to feed their children, especially during the summer months when schools are closed. These families are making decisions every day between food and medicine, food and rent, or food and paying the electric bill.

Mr. Speaker, we need real solutions to these very real problems. Let me just mention my legislation, the Half in Ten Act, H.R. 258, that would develop a national strategy to cut poverty in half over the next decade. That is more than 23 million Americans lifted out of poverty and into the middle class in just the next 10 years.

This bill that we are talking about tonight goes just the opposite way. Surely, we can all recognize that ensuring healthy meals for American children is the first step in this ongoing War on Poverty. It should not be a partisan issue. Feeding hungry kids is a moral imperative.

So let's put our children first, and let's strengthen our child nutrition programs rather than cut them. Our children deserve the security of knowing where their next meal is coming from. That is just basic. It is a basic American value.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Scott for his leadership and thank him for yielding.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source