On March 24, the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee approved, by voice vote, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (as-yet-unnumbered), a bill to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Program (P.L. 89-642). The Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, and Rural Development spending bill (P.L. 111-80) extended the current authorization (P.L. 108-265) until September.
According to the committee summaries, the bill would provide $4.5 billion over ten years to end childhood hunger ($1.2 billion), combat childhood obesity ($3.2 billion), and improve program management and integrity ($100 million). Among the provisions to combat childhood obesity is increased support for breastfeeding in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Specifically, the bill would “permanently authorize [a provision in P.L. 111-80 to recognize exemplary breastfeeding practices at the WIC clinic and agency level] within child nutrition law, and expand the collection of WIC program data on breastfeeding rates.”
The bill also would establish nutrition requirements for child care centers and set national nutritional standards for food sold at schools throughout the day, including food sold in vending machines and at fundraisers.
Children whose families already receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp program) benefits would automatically become eligible for free school meals, while schools in high-poverty areas would be able to offer free meals to all students without collecting paper applications, thus “expand[ing] access to more children and reduc[ing] administrative burdens on schools.”