WASHINGTON, D.C. – – The House of Representatives today approved legislation that will make historic and urgent improvements to the nation’s federal child nutrition programs. By a vote of 264 to 157, the House passed S. 3307, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, bipartisan legislation that the Senate unanimously approved in August. President Obama has indicated he plans to sign the bill in the coming days.
The legislation dramatically improves the quality of meals children eat in school and in child care, increases the number of healthy meals available to needy children and provides the first real increase in the Federal reimbursement rate for school lunches in more than 30 years. The legislation also eliminates junk food from schools by requiring schools, for the first time, to apply nutritional standards to food served outside the cafeteria.
“In a country as great as ours, no child should go hungry and all children deserve healthy meals. With this vote, today we make a commitment to the neediest children in our country, to the future of our country and to the millions of families who rely on the federal child nutrition programs as a nutritional safety net,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and original sponsor of the House version of the child nutrition legislation. “It’s a shame that the majority of Republicans put politics ahead of our children’s health and voted against this bill. They are standing on the wrong side of history. I hope it doesn’t foreshadow what is in store in the next Congress.”
The legislation dramatically improves the quality of meals children eat in school and in child care, increases the number of healthy meals available to needy children and provides the first real increase in the Federal reimbursement rate for school lunches in more than 30 years. The legislation also eliminates junk food from schools by requiring schools, for the first time, to apply nutritional standards to food served outside the cafeteria.
“In a country as great as ours, no child should go hungry and all children deserve healthy meals. With this vote, today we make a commitment to the neediest children in our country, to the future of our country and to the millions of families who rely on the federal child nutrition programs as a nutritional safety net,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and original sponsor of the House version of the child nutrition legislation. “It’s a shame that the majority of Republicans put politics ahead of our children’s health and voted against this bill. They are standing on the wrong side of history. I hope it doesn’t foreshadow what is in store in the next Congress.”
Continue reading House Passes Sweeping Child Nutrition Reauthorization Legislation.