Child Nutrition

Floor Speech

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Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, more than 21 percent of American children live in poverty. More than 15 million children live in food-insecure households. In fact, households with children are more likely to be food insecure than those without.

In my home State of Ohio, 16.9 percent of households experience food insecurity, and Ohio's rate is higher than the national average of 14.3.

Programs that affect child nutrition, such as the National School Lunch Program, the National School Breakfast Program, and the Summer Food Service Program, are essential tools in the fight to end child hunger.

Access to healthy foods during the school day and throughout summer feeding programs is essential to helping children thrive both academically and developmentally.

The Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act would increase the burden on schools with new verification requirements and increased community eligibility thresholds, or CEP.

I represent one of the Nation's most impoverished districts, with nearly 200,000 people living in poverty. Out of 435 districts and the District of Columbia, my district ranks 420th. Only 16 other districts in the United States fare worse than mine.

If passed, the changes to CEP alone could result in children across the country losing access to free and reduced-price meals at school, and that is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker.

The bill fails to make critical investments in the summer meal program. Meals served through the summer feeding program may be the only ones some children have in a day.

If the sponsors of the bill truly wanted to improve child nutrition, they would invest in summer meals to ensure eligible children do not go hungry during the summer months.

As we move towards reauthorization, we must strengthen and expand child nutrition programs. Our children's health and education are not budget-saving gimmicks.

I firmly believe that any attempt to reauthorize child nutrition programs must improve access to healthy foods year-round. This bill does not even come close to meeting the minimum requirement.

We must engage in bipartisan conversations about how to best meet the needs of all children.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

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