Archives for the 'Farm to School' Category
Senate Passes Child Nutrition Bill
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
On Thursday, August 5, the Senate passed a child nutrition program re-authorization bill by unanimous consent.
The bill provides a 6-cent per meal increase in school lunch reimbursements, expands school meal eligibility, and establishes stronger nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools. It also includes $40 million in mandatory funding for the Farm to School competitive grants program, a measure that NSAC has helped champion.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act passed after an intensive effort by its chief sponsor, Agriculture Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and other Senators to get the bill done before the Senate adjourns for a month-long summer recess. The First Lady also weighed in with a Washington Post op ed in favor a Senate action earlier in the week.
In a major change in how the $4.5 billion bill is paid for, the version passed today removes a controversial multi-billion dollar cut to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and replaces it with a similarly controversial shortening of the time frame for the temporary increase in SNAP (food stamp) benefits included last year as part of the economic recovery bill.
Overall, the Senate bill is less generous than a $10 billion measure originally suggested by the White House and also less than the pending $8 billion House version of the legislation. However, to date, the Senate bill is the only one of the three proposals that is paid for with the required offsetting budget cuts or tax increases.
NSAC joined other organizations that support farm conservation and environmental programs in praising the Senate for dropping the earlier plan to pay for nutrition improvements with farm bill conservation money.
Some anti-hunger groups are quite naturally upset and opposed to the substitute SNAP offset. For instance, the Food Research Action Center (FRAC) put out a statement opposing the bill saying “it will increase hunger in America by cutting SNAP benefits. This bill, if enacted, will do more harm than good.”
Nutrition and public health groups on the other hand generally backed the bill and praised the Senate for passing it.
Action will now turn to the House, where the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act has been approved by the Education and Labor Committee and is awaiting House floor action. First, however, an offset package to pay for the measure must be developed.
Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chief sponsor of the House and Chair of Education and Labor, commended the Senate for its action today, calling it an important step forward.
NSAC will continue to urge the House leaders and sponsors to avoid cuts to food stamps, conservation or other farm bill funding when developing its offset package, and instead to close regressive tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy and distort the economy.
Time is running short for final action. The current child nutrition provisions expire on September 30.
While the House is being called back into emergency session next week to deal with a bill to provide aid to the states for education and medicare, a bill that also uses an additional reallocation of SNAP recovery bill dollars as part of its offset package, it currently seems unlikely they would deal with the child nutrition bill at that time.
If so, they will only have about two weeks once they return from the summer recess to take action, or Congress will be forced to extend the sunset date in current law.
If a final bill passes and gets signed into law with a major increase in funding for school and related feeding programs, it will be the first federal funding increase for school meals in three decades.
Know Your Farmer Blog and Agency Guides
Sunday, August 1st, 2010
USDA programs can often seem enigmatic and confusing. Many farmers, rural development and conservation groups in need of financial or technical assistance are often either unaware of what USDA programs exist, or lack access to the assistance they seek.
The USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative seeks to remedy this disconnect by strengthening local food systems and improving access to USDA programs.
On Friday, July 30, Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food published a blog, “USDA Programs at Glance,” with links to memorandum outlining programs that can be used to foster local and regional food systems in four areas of USDA: Rural Development, Farm Service Agency, Research, Education & Economics, and Agriculture Marketing Service.
We have reported on the first three as they were issued. The AMS memo is new. According to the memo from Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan (herself a former head of AMS): AMS research and technical assistance in the fields of food deserts and regional food hubs, along with their support and analysis of farmers markets and other forms of direct marketing, access to market news, and help for farmers working to enhance food safety practices, form the backbone of the Department’s effort to provide fresh, nutritious, easily accessible food to the public, with special focus on underserved areas of this country.
The memo provides basic information on ten programs and research areas, including two that were initiated and championed by NSAC – the Farmers Market Promotion Program and the Organic Certification Cost-Share Program.
The USDA blog post indicates they will be adding information on other USDA agencies’ programs related to Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food in coming months.
Summaries of programs created or significantly amended in the 2008 Farm Bill can also be found in NSAC’s Grassroots Guide to the 2008 Farm Bill. Another good place to find accessible USDA program information is ATTRA’s Building Sustainable Farms, Ranches and Communities: Federal Programs for Sustainable Agriculture, Forestry, Entrepreneurship, Conservation and Community Development.
Legislative Roundup: Farm Credit Funding Passes, Other Food and Farm Legislation Could Move
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
[Friday July 30 update to story below -- A measure to fund the Pigford II class action settlement between USDA and black farmers is now expected to come to the Senate floor early next week as a stand alone measure. The Food Safety Modernization Act (S 510) is now not expected to be taken up before the Senate leaves for summer recess at the end of next week, though it may come to the floor in September. Whether the Senate takes up the child nutrition reauthorization bill next week is still an open question.]
As is often the case as the summer congressional recess approaches, there is lots of activity on Capitol Hill. With so many moving pieces of interest to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and NSAC member organizations, we are issuing this brief update.
Supplemental Appropriation – Farm Credit Funding, BCAP Cut
On Tuesday, July 27, the House approved a $59 billion war supplemental spending bill by a vote of 308-114 and sent it to the President for his signature. The bill includes $950 million in Farm Service Agency (FSA) farm loan program funding to help meet emergency farm lending needs. The loan funding and several other USDA-related provisions are offset by a $50 million funding cut to the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). NSAC was a strong proponent of the farm loan funding and the offset.
The war supplemental has been pending for months. The bill has bounced back and forth between the House and the Senate, with major disputes centering around how many emergency domestic spending initiatives to tie to the war and foreign aid spending, the centerpiece of the bill. In the end, the Senate’s smaller domestic package prevailed.
The bill includes $33 billion for war operations, $6 billion in foreign aid, $5 billion for domestic disaster relief, and $13 billion in mandatory funding to help Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
The NSAC-supported credit package includes $350 million for direct farm operating loans, $300 million for guaranteed farm ownership loans, $250 million for guaranteed farm operating loans, and $50 million for subsidized guaranteed farm operating loans.
The limitation placed on BCAP, an important farm bill renewable energy program, is warranted in our view based on runaway spending and misplaced priorities, as this program was being implemented by the FSA. With a cap on program spending, the agency will need to continue to give thought to focusing the program to support the most important biomass crop projects possible.
Pigford Settlement Funding
Included in the most recent House-passed version of the supplemental appropriations bill, but deleted from the final product, was $1.15 billion for the Pigford II settlement between USDA and black farmers. That measure was originally attached to a tax extender bill that has not made it through the legislative gauntlet yet, and then it was stuck onto the supplemental in the House.
Now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says he will try to add the Pigford settlement funding, and another class action settlement between American Indians and the Department of the Interior over the government’s mishandling of trust accounts, onto a small business bill the Senate is considering on the floor this week. It is not yet clear whether this third attempt to find a vehicle for the two settlement accounts will be successful. NSAC supports the funding and the quickest possible resolution of the matter.
Ag Disaster Aid
Speaking of the small business bill, Senate Agriculture Chair, Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), has secured the agreement of the Majority Leader to attach her emergency agricultural disaster funding measure to the small business legislation. That measure was also attached to the tax extender bill earlier in the year, but now is seeking a potentially faster moving vehicle. A vote is expected later this week.
The measure includes $1 billion for bonus direct commodity payments for farmers who suffered a greater than 5 percent loss in production, a provision that has proved controversial, yet remains in play. The measure also includes specific disaster funding for cottonseed, aquaculture, Hawaiian sugar, livestock, and specialty crop producers.
Food Safety and Child Nutrition Bills
As regular readers will know, food safety and child nutrition reauthorization legislation has been chugging along slowly for the past two years. With time running out on this session of Congress, it is not yet clear if a way will be found to pass these bills and get them signed into law this year. The measures are both among the most bipartisan bills pending in Congress, which, all other things being equal, should improve their chances of passage. Nonetheless, netiher has proceeded smoothly, and both are looking for Senate floor time before the August recess begins.
The Senate food safety bill (S. 510) was voted out of Committee late last year, but has been stalled since then due to behind the scenes negotiations over amendments ranging from family farms and local food systems, to banning the use of the chemical additive BPA in food containers, to the re-importation of drugs from Canada.
The House passed it’s companion bill a year ago and has been waiting for final Senate action before they can proceed to a conference committee to settle on the final form of the legislation. Even if the Senate passes a bill soon, it is unclear whether enough time remains in this session for what could be a long conference negotiation.
The pending Managers Amendment to the Senate bill contains a number of provisions strongly supported by NSAC. NSAC also supports two amendments still being negotiated by Senator Brown (D-OH) and Senator Tester (D-MT), though we will withhold final judgment until negotiated text is closer to being agreed upon.
A child nutrition bill was approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee in March and a companion bill by the House Education and Labor Committee in July. Both bills include mandatory funding for the Farm to School program. The Senate bill costs $4.5 billion over 10 years and is paid for through offsets, including the controversial proposed cut to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The House bill costs $8 billion over 10 years, but House Democratic leadership is still in the process of looking for funding offsets and have thankfully indicated to us they will not scale back farm bill conservation programs to pay for the child nutrition increase.
While further House action on the bill is not likely until September, Senate Majority Reid said this week that he would explore whether floor time might be made available for the Senate nutrition bill. Senator Lincoln intends to take to the floor each day to explain to her colleagues the importance of taking up the bill. Her floor statement from Tuesday, July 27 is posted here.
We will continue to provide readers with new information on the food safety and child nutrition bills as it becomes available.
NSAC Sends Letter to White House and Congress Opposing Conservation Cuts
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
On Wednesday, July 21, NSAC, along with over 70 other farm, conservation, and environmental organizations sent a letter to the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and a letter to President Obama expressing strong opposition to any use of farm bill conservation program funding as an offset to pay for improvements to school meal programs.
The letters commenced with strong support for the speedy passage of the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act (H.R. 5504), otherwise known as the child nutrition reauthorization (CNR) act. The bill includes $50 million in mandatory funding over five years for farm to school programs nationwide that NSAC strongly supports. The letter recognizes the critical need to provide additional funding and improved policy for school meal programs. Click here to view NSAC’s most recent blog on this legislation.
Although advocates united around support for CNR, the letter went on to express fervent opposition to offsets that cut funding to conservation programs. The Senate companion bill to the pending House bill includes $2.8 billion in cuts from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The House bill does not yet include the funding cuts to other programs or tax loophole closings (“offsets” in congressional budget parlance) that will be needed to pay for the $8 billion nutrition bill.
“Farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners are eager to share the cost of protecting the environment, and indeed demand for participation in conservation programs routinely far outstrips available funding,” the letter noted. “Applied conservation helps provide clean air and water, energy conservation, erosion reduction, carbon sequestration, wildlife and pollinator habitat, wetland protection, pesticide reduction, and other important public benefits that should not be lost.”
Over 70 organizations signed on to these letters with a clear message: swift passage of the CNR is important for nourishing America’s children, but should not sacrifice conservation programs and the environment to pay for it. As the letter stated, sacrificing an improved environment for improved nutrition “is a false choice, one that is neither in the public interest nor in keeping with progressive values.”
Ad Calls for Urgent Action on Child Nutrition Bill
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
On Wednesday, July 21, a full page Feeding America advertisement appeared in CQ Today and Roll Call, two Capitol Hill publications, urging Congress to pass a “robust, well-funded child nutrition bill this summer.”
Support for the ad stems from a large and diverse group of organizations, including the Alliance to End Hunger, the American Cancer Society, Food Research and Action Center, the NAACP, School Nutrition Association, and Catholic Charities USA. NSAC endorsed the ad and its message as well, as did our partners at the Community Food Security Coalition and National Farm to School Network.
On July 15, the House Education and Labor Committee approved the child nutrition reauthorization bill, which includes $50 million in mandatory funding for farm to school programs. Click here to view NSAC’s blog on the reauthorization.
Child Nutrition with Farm to School Passes House Committee
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
On Thursday, July 15, the House Education and Labor Committee approved the child nutrition reauthorization bill authored by Chairman George Miller (D-CA) (Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act, H.R. 5504) by a vote of 32 -13 with Republicans Todd Platts (PA), Michael Castle (DE), and Vernon Ehlers (MI) joining all of the Democratic members of the committee in supporting the bill.
The bill includes $50 million in mandatory funding over five years for farm to school programs nationwide and incorporates language very similar to Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-NJ) Farm to School Improvements Act that NSAC strongly supports. The companion Senate Agriculture Committee-passed a bill that includes $40 million in mandatory funding for the Farm to School program.
“Farm to school programs support our local farmers and help in the fight against childhood obesity,” Holt said at the markup.
The overall bill is designed to expand access and improve the nutritional quality of the National School Lunch program, offering a six cent per meal reimbursement increase for schools and setting standards for foods sold outside the cafeteria.
An amendment by Representatives Woolsey (D-CA) and Kucinich (D-OH) was accepted to authorize an organic food pilot program that would provide competitively-awarded grants to school authorities to create pilot efforts to buy more organic foods for the school meal program. The measure parallels a similar provision sponsored by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) included in the companion Senate bill. While included in both the House and Senate pending authorization bills, it would still need to be funded by the Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee in future years to get off the ground.
The House bill passed out of Committee today includes $8 billion in new spending over the next ten years, money that must be offset from cuts to other programs or raised through new revenue. No offsets have been announced yet but must be agreed upon before the bill can go to the floor for a full vote of the House.
The Senate’s child nutrition bill passed out of Committee on March 24 with $4.5 billion in new spending offset, in part, by a $2.8 billion cut to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). NSAC opposes the inclusion of the cut to conservation and instead supports the repeal of tax loopholes to pay for the child nutrition measure. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson has said that Farm Bill program cuts should not be used for child nutrition program expansion. Miller and the House Democratic leadership will now try to work out the funding offsets as they attempt to get the bill ready for a vote on the House floor.
The current authorization for the child nutrition programs expires on September 30 so the bills in both chambers must move to floor votes before Congress leaves for recess on August 9 for the bill to become law without the necessity for heroic last minute rescue measures. If passed before the August recess, the differences in the two bills could then be worked out during the recess and there would be enough time for the compromise language to be approved by both houses of Congress after they return to Washington on September 12.
As has been true, then, since the very beginning of work on the measure, it will all come down to finding offsets that can win majority support, a process that has been painfully slow but could potentially move more quickly now that the policy and spending side of the bill has been reported out of the House committee.
Time Running Out for a Healthy School Lunch
Friday, July 9th, 2010
ACTION ALERT
July 9, 2010
Urge Your Representative to Move Forward Now on
Farm to School Funding in the Child Nutrition Bill!
If your Congressman sits on the House Education and Labor Committee – See Chart Below – please make a call in support of a healthy school lunch. Time is running short for Congressional re-authorization of the federal school lunch and breakfast programs. The House must take action soon to ensure this critical first line of defense against childhood hunger doesn’t expire on September 30th.
The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act (H.R. 5504) includes $50 million in mandatory funding over five years for Farm to School program connecting local farmers to school lunch programs nationwide, as well as many other important improvements to child nutrition programs.
The House Education and Labor Committee will likely consider the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act next week. Please call your representative and urge him or her to move this bill forward now, with the $50 million in mandatory funding for the Farm to School program included.
An investment in Farm to School programs will help schools to serve fresh and healthy food produced by local and regional farmers. That’s an investment that will pay dividends in improved child health, scholastic achievement and farm and rural economic vitality.
CALL TODAY!
Please tell your Representative on the Education and Labor Committee that it is important to you that the Committee act NOW to pass this crucial piece of legislation.
It’s easy to call. Please call or fax your representative at the numbers provided in the chart below. Ask to speak to the staff person listed. If the staff person is unavailable leave him or her a voice mail message that includes your name and phone number, or simply leave a message with the receptionist.
The message is simple. “I am a constituent of Representative _____________, and I am calling to ask him/her to move forward now on the Child Nutrition bill — H.R. 5504, the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act. Tell him/her that you particularly support the provision in the Act providing $50 million in mandatory funding for Farm to School programs as a wise investment in our children and our local and regional farm economy.”
Background
If funded, the Farm to School Program would offer competitive grants to schools or non-profit organizations to develop purchasing relationships with local farmers, plan seasonal menus, start school gardens, develop hands-on nutrition education, and provide solutions to infrastructure problems including storage, transportation, food preparation, and technical training.
Farm to School grant program was authorized in the 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act, but USDA has never requested any funding for the program. Congress now has an opportunity to fund this important program when it reauthorizes the Child Nutrition Act in 2010.
- Farm to School initiatives around the country have demonstrated that Farm to School is a win-win-win for children, schools, local communities and farmers — providing abundant reasons why this initiative should be available to schools throughout the country.
- The choice of healthier produce options in the school cafeteria through Farm to School results in children consuming more fruits and vegetables, leading to lifelong improvements in their diets.
- Schools report a 3 to 16 percent increase in school meal participation when farm-fresh food is served, bringing more school lunch funds to the schools.
- Working creatively with local producers, some schools have found ways to save money while supporting local agriculture by purchasing locally.
- The transaction from Farm to School keeps dollars in the local economy, strengthening local economies and creating jobs.
- Schools provide an important new market opportunity for small and mid-sized family farmers and ranchers.
111th CONGRESS: HOUSE EDUCATION AND LABOR COMMITTEE
Democrats
| Representative | Staff | Phone | Fax |
| George Miller (7th CA) | Denise Forte, Gabrielle Serra | 202-225-2095 | 202-225-5609 |
| Dale E. Kildee (5th MI) | Erin Ward | 202-225-3611 | 202-225-6393 |
| Donald M. Payne (10th NJ) | LaVerne Alexander | 202-225-3436 | 202-225-4160 |
| Robert E. Andrews (1st NJ) | Elisa Krobot | 202-225-6501 | 202-225-6583 |
| Robert C. Scott (3rd VA) | Carolyn Hughes | 202-225-8351 | 202-225-8354 |
| Lynn Woolsey (6th CA) | Jason Feld | 202-225-5161 | 202-225-5163 |
| Ruben Hinojosa (15th TX) | Rosa Garcia | 202-225-2531 | 202-225-5688 |
| Carolyn McCarthy (4th NY) | Kim Zarish-Becknell | 202-225-5516 | 202-225-5758 |
| John F. Tierney (6th MA) | Rachel Evans | 202-225-8020 | 202-225-5915 |
| Dennis J. Kucinich (10th OH) | Yonatan Zamir | 202-225-5871 | 202-225-5745 |
| David Wu (1st OR) | Scott Olson | 202-225-0855 | 202-225-9497 |
| Rush Holt (12th NJ) | Chris Gaston | 202-225-5801 | 202-225-6025 |
| Susan Davis (53rd CA) | Suzanne Swink | 202-225-2040 | 202-225-2948 |
| Raúl M. Grijalva (7th AZ) | Joseph Mais | 202-225-2435 | 202-225-1541 |
| Tim Bishop (1st NY) | Joanna Serra | 202-225-3826 | 202-225-3143 |
| Joe Sestak (7th PA) | Jason Marmon | 202-225-2011 | 202-226-0280 |
| Dave Loebsack (2nd IA) | Kara Marchione | 202-225-6576 | 202-226-0757 |
| Mazie Keiko Hirono (2nd HI) | Anne Stewart | 202-225-4906 | 202-225-4987 |
| Jason Altmire (4th PA) | Cara Toman | 202-225-2565 | 202-226-2274 |
| Phil Hare (17th IL) | Kemi Jemilohun | 202-225-5905 | 202-225-5396 |
| Yvette D. Clarke (11th NY) | Bridgette Dehart | 202-225-6231 | 202-226-0112 |
| Joe Courtney (2nd CT) | John Hollay | 202-225-2076 | 202-225-4977 |
| Carol Shea-Porter (1st NH) | Chris Hillesheim | 202-225-5456 | 202-225-5822 |
| Marcia L. Fudge (11th OH) | Clifton Williams | 202-225-7032 | 202-225-1339 |
| Jared Polis (2nd CO) | Spiros Protopsaltis | 202-225-2161 | 202-226-7840 |
| Paul D. Tonko (21st NY) | Becky Cornell | 202-225-5076 | 202-225-5077 |
| Pedro Pierluisi (Puerto Rico) | Anina Caso | 202-225-2615 |
202-225-2154
|
| Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Northern Mariana Islands) | Ed Manglona | 202-225-2646 |
202-226-4249
|
| Dina Titus (3rd NV) | Sarah Cohen | 202-225-3252 | 202-225-2185 |
| Judy Chu (32nd CA) | Carlos Uriarte | 202-225-5464 | 202-225-5467 |
Republicans
| Representative | Staff | Phone | Fax |
| John Kline (2nd MN) | Molly Conway | 202-225-2271 | 202-225-2595 |
| Thomas E. Petri (6th WI) | Kevin James | 202-225-2476 | 202-225-2356 |
| Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, (25th CA) | Chris Perry | 202-225-1956 | 202-226-0683 |
| Peter Hoekstra (2nd MI) | Greg Van Woerkom | 202-225-4401 | 202-226-0779 |
| Michael N. Castle (At large DE) | Jessica Gross | 202-225-4165 | 202-225-2291 |
| Mark E. Souder (3rd IN) | Kristin Garesche | 202-225-4436 | 202-225-3479 |
| Vernon J. Ehlers (3rd MI) | Rachel Fenton | 202-225-3831 | 202-225-5144 |
| Judy Biggert (13th IL) | Griffin Foster | 202-225-3515 | 202-225-9420 |
| Todd Platts (19th PA) | Rebeccah “Becky” Wolfkiel | 202-225-5836 | 202-226-1000 |
| Joe Wilson (2nd SC) | Melissa Chandler | 202-225-2452 | 202-225-2455 |
| Cathy McMorris Rodgers (5th WA) | Kim Betz | 202-225-2006 | 202-225-3392 |
| Tom Price (6th GA) | Kris Skrzycki | 202-225-4501 | 202-225-4656 |
| Rob Bishop (1st UT) | Wayne Bradshaw | 202-225-0453 | 202-225-5857 |
| Brett Guthrie (2nd KY) | Megan Spindel | 202-225-3501 | 202-226-2019 |
| Bill Cassidy (6th LA) | Holly Booth | 202-225-3901 | 202-225-7313 |
| Tom McClintock (4th CA) | Kristen Glen | 202-225-2511 | 202-225-5444 |
| Duncan D. Hunter (52nd CA) | Joe Kasper | 202-225-5672 | 202-225-0235 |
| Phil Roe (1st TN) | Matt Meyer | 202-225-6356 | 202-225-5714 |
| Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (5th PA) | John Busovsky | 202-225-5121 | 202-225-5796 |
Child Nutrition Bill with Farm to School Begins to Move in House
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
On Thursday, July 1, the full House Education and Labor Committee held its first hearing on Chairman George Miller’s (D-CA) Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act. Throughout the hearing endorsements for the Farm to School program were loud and clear, both from Committee members and from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. The Miller bill includes $50 million in mandatory funding for the Farm to School competitive grants program.
Secretary Vilsack began his testimony with an impassioned plea for Congress to move child nutrition legislation quickly, stating that ”nothing is more important than getting this done this year.” While there was bipartisan agreement that the legislation authorizing the school meals programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is a priority, some Representatives have balked at the $8 billion price tag for the bill.
Only a few offsets have been identified yet. There is only one likely offset under the jurisdiction of the Education and Labor Committee, a change to the bonus commodity program that will yield about $1 billion in savings. Hence, once the bill is reported out of Committee, the leaders will then need to go shopping for offsets from other committees, most likely including the Ways and Means Committee and the Agriculture Committee, before the bill can be brought to the floor.
The bill may be marked up in Education and Labor as soon as the week of July 12. That quick movement to move the bill out of Committee is very welcome given the additional time it will take to get offsets lined up and the bill ready for floor action.
House Child Nutrition Bill Includes Farm to School
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
On Thursday, June 10, House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-CA), Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA), Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-CT), and Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) introduced the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010.
The bill will become the basic vehicle for House consideration of the five-year reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. Chairman Miller is hoping to mark up a bill in committee in the coming weeks.
The proposal includes $50 million in mandatory funding for the Farm to School program, an NSAC priority, as well as improvements in access to meals and nutritional quality.
The Farm to School language in the bill draws heavily from Rep. Rush Holt’s Farm to School Improvement Act of 2010, introduced in the House in February and with 29 co-sponsors.
The Miller bill’s price tag is expected to be in the $8 billion range over the next ten years, though the Congressional Budget Office has not yet determined the precise estimated cost.
The tentative schedule is for the Education and Labor Committee to mark up the bill sometime the week of June 21, send it to the floor in time for a full House vote, House and Senate conference committee agreement, and final approval by both chambers before the current child nutrition law expires on September 30.
The Senate’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was voted out of the Agriculture Committee unanimously (blog link) but has not yet been scheduled for a vote on the floor. It too includes strong Farm to School language, though funding is a bit lower at $40 million in mandatory money.
The Senate bill would cost $4.5 billion over ten years and is fully offset by funding reductions in other programs, including $2.8 billion from cuts to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), an offset strongly opposed by NSAC.
NSAC has received assurances from key House offices that Farm Bill conservation program cuts will not be part of any offset package offered in the House of Representatives to pay for important nutrition program improvements.
We will continue to urge swift action on both bills.
New Farm to School Act in House
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Last Friday, May 28, Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN), Tom Latham (R-IA), and Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced the National Farm to School Act of 2010 (H.R. 5456) along with 22 original cosponsors.
The Act would authorize USDA to administer competitive grants of up to $100,000 to support planning, implementation, training, and technical assistance for schools, educational agencies, colleges and universities, nonprofits or governments to implement farm to school programs. The legislation would also direct the USDA to identify existing federal programs that could facilitate the participation of small- to medium-sized farmers in farm to school programs and create an online exchange to share best practices on farm to school programs nationwide.
This bill follows in the footsteps of the Farm to School Improvements Act of 2010 (HR 4710), introduced in February by Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ), and the Children’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009 (HR 4333), introduced by Rep. Farr (D-CA) and Rep. Putnam (R-FL). Whereas the two prior bills included $50 million in mandatory funding, the National Farm to School Act would be discretionary funding, subject to appropriations. Regardless of that key difference, introduction of the bill demonstrates growing support among policy-makers for farm to school programs which can help to provide healthy food in schools while creating a market to support local farmers.
NSAC supports $50 million in mandatory funding for a Farm to School program as part of the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization process. A Senate reauthorization bill is currently pending floor action, and House committee action is expected later this year.