On August 5, the Senate passed, by unanimous consent, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (S. 3307), after adopting, also by unanimous consent, a substitute amendment by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee approved the legislation on March 24 (see The Source, 3/26/10); the House Education and Labor Committee approved its version of the bill (H.R. 5504) on July 15 (see The Source, 7/16/10).
Sponsored by Sen. Lincoln, the bill would reauthorize the Child Nutrition Program, as well as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, among others.
According to the committee report, the measure would support and promote breastfeeding in the WIC program by “increasing funding for breastfeeding peer counselors and by changing WIC food packages to increase the attractiveness of breastfeeding and decrease the attractiveness of infant formula.” The bill would establish a program to reward “exemplary breastfeeding support practices” at the state and local agency level.
The legislation would expand access to the school lunch program by allowing schools or local education agencies with a high enrollment of low-income students to receive federal reimbursement without collecting individual family applications. Under the bill, children who receive Medicaid benefits would be directly certified for participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp program). The bill also would set nutrition standards for food served in schools and expand the afterschool meal program for at-risk children.
