WASHINGTON, D.C. – The bipartisan child nutrition reauthorization legislation introduced earlier this month will improve children’s health, increase access to healthy meals, and create more year-round meal opportunities for children, witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee yesterday. At the hearing, Miller announced that he plans to markup the legislation when Congress returns after the July 4th recess.
“We need to get our country back on a pathway of healthy eating and healthy living – this starts by not only ensuring our children are eating healthy meals in schools, but also teaching them healthy habits that will last them a lifetime,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. “This bill is a great opportunity to improve our school meal programs, to meet children’s nutritional needs at every venture and to change the future of this country.”
“We need to get our country back on a pathway of healthy eating and healthy living – this starts by not only ensuring our children are eating healthy meals in schools, but also teaching them healthy habits that will last them a lifetime,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. “This bill is a great opportunity to improve our school meal programs, to meet children’s nutritional needs at every venture and to change the future of this country.”
The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children bill will significantly expand access for millions of children to healthy meals year-round in schools, child care and community based settings. The bill would, for the first time, establish nutrition standards for foods sold outside of the cafeteria such as vending machines.
"This status quo increases our nation's health care bill, it affects our ability to recruit a for the military, and most importantly it will not let us produce the generation of well-educated, healthy kids who will be competitive in the global economy of the 21st century,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “For all of these reasons, we must take steps to streamline access, improve the quality of school meals, increase participation, and work to eliminate childhood hunger in this country.”
In 2008, 16.7 million children lived in food insecure households; over 22 percent of the nation’s children. Children that lack access to enough quality food are at increased risk for poor health, including infections from poor immune systems, poor oral health, and to be hospitalized for a condition that could have been prevented. Additionally, children that lack access to enough quality food when they enter school are at a disadvantage to their peers and struggle to keep pace.
Witnesses testified that the investments in the legislation will help children to achieve and succeed.
“There can be no better investment – no better stimulus to our economy – than feeding this nation’s children healthily and well. If we give the kids in this country delicious and nutritious food, we will instill in them a lifetime preference for healthy eating that will translate into vast savings in health care costs down the line,” said Tom Colicchio, chef and restaurateur. “Providing the building blocks for millions of kids to grow and develop as they should, will mean a population of robust and productive adults, and a more competitive America.”
According to a report developed by Mission: Readiness, during World War II, the military found that approximately 40 percent of rejected recruits were turned away for health reasons related to not having enough food and being underweight. Now, being overweight is the leading medical reasons for rejecting a recruit.
The Army estimates that over 27 percent of all Americans 17 to 24 years of age – over nine million men and women – are too heavy to join the military.
“The grim reality is that we live in a dangerous world. As long as outside threats to our national security exist, we are well-served to maintain a high level of military readiness,” Major General Paul D. Monroe, U.S. Army (Ret.), Executive Advisory Council, Mission: Readiness. “[Enacting the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act] will help improve the health of our nation’s children and, ultimately, strengthen national security.”
The threats of unhealthy children also have a significant economic impact. There is a strong link between adult obesity rates and socioeconomic status. Nine of the 10 states with the highest childhood obesity rates are in the South, correlating with the highest child poverty rates. The American Public Health Association estimates that at current obesity rates, obesity will add nearly $344 billion to the nation’s annual health care costs by 2018 and account for more than 21 percent of health care spending.
Higher rates of obesity translate into higher rates of obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. The early development of health problems associated with obesity shortens the lifespan of affected children later in life, and it is associated with a lower lifetime earning potential.
“The health of America’s children depends on a prescription for healthy food and more physical activity,” said Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. “This bill can play a significant role in improving the health of America’s children, reversing the childhood obesity epidemic, reducing the burden of diabetes, heart and other chronic diseases and demand for expensive medical care, and finally, improving the readiness, willingness, and ability of our future civilian and military workforce – to compete and defend our nation.”
Jim Weill, President of the Food Research Action Center (FRAC) testified that his organization had analyzed a Gallup poll showing that in 2009, nearly a quarter of all households with children in this country reported “there have been times in the last twelve months when they did not have enough money to buy food that they or their family needed.”
“Moving forward on a reauthorization bill that provides critical support for low-income children can’t wait,” said Weill. “This will ensure significant movement towards the goals we all have of ending child hunger and dramatically reducing childhood obesity.”
More information on the bill
View witness testimony
"This status quo increases our nation's health care bill, it affects our ability to recruit a for the military, and most importantly it will not let us produce the generation of well-educated, healthy kids who will be competitive in the global economy of the 21st century,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “For all of these reasons, we must take steps to streamline access, improve the quality of school meals, increase participation, and work to eliminate childhood hunger in this country.”
In 2008, 16.7 million children lived in food insecure households; over 22 percent of the nation’s children. Children that lack access to enough quality food are at increased risk for poor health, including infections from poor immune systems, poor oral health, and to be hospitalized for a condition that could have been prevented. Additionally, children that lack access to enough quality food when they enter school are at a disadvantage to their peers and struggle to keep pace.
Witnesses testified that the investments in the legislation will help children to achieve and succeed.
“There can be no better investment – no better stimulus to our economy – than feeding this nation’s children healthily and well. If we give the kids in this country delicious and nutritious food, we will instill in them a lifetime preference for healthy eating that will translate into vast savings in health care costs down the line,” said Tom Colicchio, chef and restaurateur. “Providing the building blocks for millions of kids to grow and develop as they should, will mean a population of robust and productive adults, and a more competitive America.”
According to a report developed by Mission: Readiness, during World War II, the military found that approximately 40 percent of rejected recruits were turned away for health reasons related to not having enough food and being underweight. Now, being overweight is the leading medical reasons for rejecting a recruit.
The Army estimates that over 27 percent of all Americans 17 to 24 years of age – over nine million men and women – are too heavy to join the military.
“The grim reality is that we live in a dangerous world. As long as outside threats to our national security exist, we are well-served to maintain a high level of military readiness,” Major General Paul D. Monroe, U.S. Army (Ret.), Executive Advisory Council, Mission: Readiness. “[Enacting the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act] will help improve the health of our nation’s children and, ultimately, strengthen national security.”
The threats of unhealthy children also have a significant economic impact. There is a strong link between adult obesity rates and socioeconomic status. Nine of the 10 states with the highest childhood obesity rates are in the South, correlating with the highest child poverty rates. The American Public Health Association estimates that at current obesity rates, obesity will add nearly $344 billion to the nation’s annual health care costs by 2018 and account for more than 21 percent of health care spending.
Higher rates of obesity translate into higher rates of obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. The early development of health problems associated with obesity shortens the lifespan of affected children later in life, and it is associated with a lower lifetime earning potential.
“The health of America’s children depends on a prescription for healthy food and more physical activity,” said Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. “This bill can play a significant role in improving the health of America’s children, reversing the childhood obesity epidemic, reducing the burden of diabetes, heart and other chronic diseases and demand for expensive medical care, and finally, improving the readiness, willingness, and ability of our future civilian and military workforce – to compete and defend our nation.”
Jim Weill, President of the Food Research Action Center (FRAC) testified that his organization had analyzed a Gallup poll showing that in 2009, nearly a quarter of all households with children in this country reported “there have been times in the last twelve months when they did not have enough money to buy food that they or their family needed.”
“Moving forward on a reauthorization bill that provides critical support for low-income children can’t wait,” said Weill. “This will ensure significant movement towards the goals we all have of ending child hunger and dramatically reducing childhood obesity.”
More information on the bill
View witness testimony
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