Scott, Fudge Express Strong Concerns about House Republican Child Nutrition Reauthorization Draft

Statement

Ranking Member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Marcia Fudge (D-OH) expressed their strong concerns with the contents of a child nutrition reauthorization discussion draft crafted by House Republicans.

"Child nutrition programs provide critical resources in the effort to reduce the incidence of food insecurity and malnutrition facing millions of children in rural and urban areas nationwide," said Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03). "Strong standards and programs such as CEP are providing a healthier school environment and securing nutritious meals for some of our most vulnerable children throughout the school year and beyond. Now is not the time to walk away from the progress these vital programs have made toward ensuring the health and well-being of our nation's future. We need a reauthorization that moves us forward, not backwards."

"Equitable access to nutritious foods in and out of school is essential for our children to succeed. Yet, House Republicans have put forth a draft that limits access to this basic life necessity," said Subcommittee Ranking Member, Marcia Fudge (OH-11). "Their proposal fails to invest in WIC and summer meal programs and lowers the number of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals. America's families deserve a bill that protects and strengthens our child nutrition programs. Congress must work together and develop a bill to ensure that no child goes hungry."

This partisan draft contains harmful provisions that threaten a number of House Democratic Priorities, including:

· The erosion of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which provides free, nutritious meals to 8.5 million low-income children in 18,000 schools and eliminates burdensome application requirements for districts, schools, and families;

The imposition of additional time-consuming administrative procedures on schools and families, procedures that could result in fewer eligible children receiving access to healthy, nutritious meals;

· The lack of meaningful investment in the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) program, which provides children in rural areas, Tribal Nations, and areas of extreme need such as Flint, Michigan with summertime nutritional assistance;

· The failure to expand services to six-year-olds not enrolled in kindergarten and other critical improvements to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and

· The undoing of the evidence-based nutritional standards introduced by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which have been adopted by nearly 99 percent of schools across the nation.

Ranking Members Scott, Fudge, and fellow Committee and House Democrats remain steadfast in their belief that any child nutrition reauthorization legislation must serve to improve access to healthy foods in schools and other settings and maintain robust nutrition standards in federal nutrition programs.

Source