Child Nutrition

Currently, over 38 million Americans are hungry. Of those, almost 14 million are children. Mark strongly supports legislative initiatives to fight hunger and to guarantee that all of our nation's citizens receive adequate nutrition. As a member of the Senate Hunger Caucus, Mark works to ensure that federal programs exist to feed the hungry and to provide access to nutritious foods. Mark also believes that these programs, including Food Stamps, the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC), and the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, should receive adequate funding in the federal budget. Mark strongly opposed efforts to include cuts to food stamps in the Budget Reconciliation bill, in order to help pay for new tax cuts for the wealthy. He believes Congress should do more to help the needy—not less. That is why he is a cosponsor of the Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2005 (S.1120), which would increase federal funding for local organizations working to reduce hunger nationwide and would establish a commitment to end hunger in the United States by 2015. Mark will continue to work with his colleagues to create policies and programs that combat hunger and malnutrition in America.

The child nutrition reauthorization bill, which passed the Senate in June, 2004, by a unanimous vote, incorporated four Dayton initiatives designed to reduce burdensome paperwork for day-care providers nationwide, including over 14,000 providers in Minnesota . The Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill sets funding levels for the School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and WIC.

The child nutrition reauthorization bill included provisions introduced by Mark to lessen the administrative burden of participating in the program for thousands of day-care providers. Mark's initiatives relieve day-care providers of the thousands of hours they spend every year on mandatory paperwork, allowing Minnesota 's 14,000 licensed day-care providers to dedicate more of their valuable time taking care of children. These provisions are:

• Permanent agreements: Minnesota is second only to California in its number of licensed providers in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Every year, all providers must sign agreements with their sponsoring organizations, necessitating thousands of pages of paperwork. Mark's provision allows providers to sign one agreement, to remain in effect indefinitely.
• Reasonable audit requirements: State agencies, such as Minnesota 's Department of Children, Families, and Learning, are required to audit day-care providers and pursue accounting errors that cost small amounts of money, even if the recovery process is not worth the time and effort. Mark's provision allows the auditors to disregard minor errors, thereby saving time and money.
• Longer certifications: Currently, when the state determines that a day-care provider lives in a low-income area, the determination remains in effect for three years. Mark's provision extends that determination to five years, eliminating needless and time-consuming recertification.
• Paperwork reduction study: This provision mandates the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to study record-keeping requirements for licensed day-care providers nationwide and to develop a plan to reduce their paperwork burden.