Congressman Ruben Hinojosa Votes for Healthy, Hunger-Free Kinds Act of 2010

Press Release

Congressman Rubén Hinojosa voted today to approve legislation that will make historic and urgent improvements to the nation's federal child nutrition programs. By a vote of 264-157, the House passed S. 3307 bipartisan legislation that the Senate unanimously approved in August. It is an investment of $4.5 Billion over ten years.
"I am extremely pleased that this very important legislation has finally passed," said Rep. Hinojosa. Once it is signed into law, it will help improve child nutrition for millions of children, particularly low-income children who need to be healthy and ready to learn to succeed in school."

The legislation will dramatically improve the quality of meals children eat in school and in child care. It will increase the number of healthy meals available to needy children and it will provide the first real increase in the Federal reimbursement rate for school lunches in more than 30 years.

***State by State Table on Reimbursement-Per Year for School Lunch Program***
https://demcom.house.gov/sites/demcom.house.gov/files/Improved%20State%20by%20State%20Reimbursement%20for%20School%20Lunches.pdf
"In some parts of South Texas, approximately 85% of the students are eligible for free and reduced price meals under the National School Lunch Program," said Rep. Hinojosa. "According to 2006-2008 USDA data and Feeding American, approximately 24.3% of children in the State of Texas live in food insecure households, the second highest rate in the country. No child should go hungry in our great country."

This legislation answers President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama's call to reduce childhood hunger and reduce childhood obesity.

"Besides reducing the hunger of 16 million children across this nation, this legislation will also reduce childhood obesity,' said Rep. Hinojosa. "The legislation will improve the nutritional quality of meals children eat in and outside of school. It will support school and community efforts to feed our children nutritiously so that they will not go hungry and will eat healthier meals."

The legislation will connect approximately 115,000 new students to the school meals programs by using Medicaid data to directly certify eligible children. It will also streamline the program and eliminate wasteful paperwork by enhancing universal meal access for eligible children in high poverty communities by using census data to determine school wide income eligibility.

President Obama will sign the bill into law in the coming days.

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