July, 15 2010, 02:14pm EDT
House Education and Labor Committee Approves Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill
Statement of CSPI Director of Nutrition Policy Margo G. Wootan
WASHINGTON
The Center for Science in the Public Interest congratulates Chairman
George Miller and strongly supports his Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act (H.R.
5504), which passed out of the House of Representatives Education and
Labor Committee today.
This bill includes a landmark provision to get soda and junk
food out of school vending machines, which is supported not only by
parents, health groups, and the Administration, but also by leading food
and beverage companies. The bill also would provide resources and
training to improve the nutritional quality of school lunches, expand
nutrition education for children, and strengthen school nutrition and
physical activity wellness policies.
The bill's passage will hopefully give a nudge to the Senate
to pass its child nutrition bill, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (S. 3307). That bill
passed unanimously out of the Senate
Agriculture Committee in March, but has yet to be brought to the
Senate floor for a vote. To be sure, there's a lot on the Senate's
plate. But unlike a lot of truly contentious issues, passing of child
nutrition bill would only require about a day of Senate floor time, and
is bipartisan.
The clock is ticking. Congress has less than three weeks
left until they go home for summer recess and then, kids go back to
school. Both the House of Representatives and Senate need to make our
children's health their next priority and vote on child nutrition as
soon as possible.
Since 1971, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has been a strong advocate for nutrition and health, food safety, alcohol policy, and sound science.
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A few months ago, no one wanted to talk int. taxes, let alone on the super rich. Now we have a process (#G20), finance ministers (\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf7 \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 & others) supporting it, \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea in part & everyone agreeing that proceeds should help fund climate and dev: https://t.co/ZldF557pAL— (@)
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