Aug 10 2010
Senate Passes “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act,” Cuts Food Stamps
The Senate has just unanimously passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, approving 4.5 billion dollars to fund free school meals and improve the nutritional standards for food served in schools. The bill is being called “deficit neutral”, meaning its funding will be made possible by cuts to other programs. Ironically, most of the cuts will come from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as the food stamp program. Senators argue that expanding school meal programs will alleviate the burden that cuts to food stamps may have on families. If passed by the House, the funds will go toward expanding meal service to include after-school meals, and increasing reimbursements to states for meal costs. The Hunger Free Kids Act will allow many more children to receive free meals by simplifying the application process and creating automatic qualification for free meals for children whose families participate in other need-based programs. Child hunger is a persistent problem in the United States – a problem being made worse by the prolonged recession. Improving the quality and delivery of school meals is a major focus of the Obama administration’s efforts to end childhood hunger and childhood obesity. Here to discuss the impact of the Hunger Free Kids Act is Michael Jacobson, Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The Center has long advocated for improving the nutritional value of school lunches and banning unhealthy snacks from being sold in schools.
GUEST: Michael F. Jacobson, Executive Director of Center for Science in the Public Interest
Find out more at www.cspinet.org.
7 Responses to “Senate Passes “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act,” Cuts Food Stamps”
It is rather unfortunate that the Senate feels like cutting SNAP in favor of school meals is a good thing. Clearly both programs are important and need to be supported.
Being a Food Service Director for our local school district, I am excited to see this bill moving forward, but I am disappointed where the funds seem to be coming from. So the kids get better food at school but then don’t have enough to eat at home? That doesn’t seem to fit in with the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids” does it?
The fact that they want districts to increase full-paid meals, regardless of local circumstances also worries me. We have many families that are barely over the cut-off for meal benefits. This is basically pushing those students right out of our program.
As mentioned in the interview (but not in the summary) the big change in this act is the move to give the USDA control over the foods that compete with subsidized meals, such as vending machines. There is not doubt that junk food elsewhere in the school has been one of the biggest blocks against improvements in children’s health. Hopefully we will see this power acted on immediately.
Also, to address the above comments, the cuts in SNAP are expected to come without a cost as employment improves. With a little luck, it could be an easy trade.
The schools will decide what the kids are eating and that will be so much better than giving parents SNAP money. Obviously parents are making the kids obese or letting them go hungry.
I agree that SNAP should be reduced – the program is not only exploited by those who receive assistance choosing unhealthy selections but also their dependency should be reduced by these additional programs. Hopefully, the foods that are deemed as healthy for kids doesn’t include a lot of cheese (high in fat), yogurt (artificial sweeteners) and processed foods because that is not healthy. I hope this program looks as good as it sounds but am doubtful if the government is involved.
Food Stamps cut to fund something else. Nice job DC.
I think that this bill is very useful towards our children. Not only have I seen children being sick because of this cafeterria food, but also that our children are in need of this SNAP. They are going to train the lunch ladies/assistants how to handle the food properly-as part of the bill’s many requirements. I think the lunch food is, indeed, “taking a turn” for the best.