When it reauthorizes child nutrition programs, Congress should provide meals for free to all students at public schools and offer financial assistance to low-income parents to buy food for their school-age children during the summer and holidays, activists said at a House hearing on Thursday. Their recommendations were farther-reaching than President Biden’s suggestions for expanding school food programs.
The subcommittee hearing was called to gather ideas for what would be the first update of school lunch and other child nutrition programs in a decade. Subcommittee chairwoman Suzanne Bonamici said healthy food should be available to all students, and pointed to Biden’s proposals to expand the Summer EBT program nationwide and make it easier for schools in high-poverty areas to serve meals to all students at no charge. Republicans said the best approach was to improve existing programs and stay away from “new, duplicative programs.”
Partisan disagreements and budget austerity have derailed attempts in recent years to overhaul the child nutrition programs, which cost around $25 billion a year.
“The most important step that the [Education and Labor] Committee and Congress can take to support health and education is to allow all schools to offer school meals to all children at no charge,” said Michael Wilson of Maryland Hunger Solutions. “Schools have been able to provide meals to all children at no charge from spring 2020 through school year 2021-2022, and this should be maintained beyond the pandemic.”
Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio also called for free school meals, an expansion of the summer food program, and enactment of HR 3519 to “provide families with an EBT card whenever schools are shuttered.” Crystal Cooper, nutrition director for Chicago Public Schools, which has 300,000 students, opposed relaxing the food-quality standards set in the 2010 child nutrition laws. “At CPS, we have had no problem with finding menu items and recipes our students enjoy,” said Cooper, without making use of USDA meal “flexibilities.” She also asked for longer lunch periods so students can eat, rather than bolt, their meals.
Brandon Lipps, who ran the USDA’s public nutrition programs during the Trump administration, said, “Feedback from children, families, and local providers affirmed that child nutrition programs need to be flexible, modernized, and simplified.” Sonny Perdue, agriculture secretary for President Trump, gave schools leeway on salt content in meals and the use of “whole grain-rich” foods, and allowed chocolate and other flavored milk back into the cafeteria. The 2010 child nutrition law called for less salt, sugar, and fat in meals as well as more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Thirty percent of school food is discarded, said Lipps. “As you look toward child nutrition reauthorization, I encourage you to give school nutrition professionals permanent flexibilities, especially within dairy, sodium, and whole grain categories.”
Meanwhile, 14 senators, including Senate Appropriations chairman Patrick Leahy and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, announced a bill to expand the USDA’s summer food program. States would have the option of a summer EBT program of $30 a month per child to help families buy groceries, or they could use such approaches as mobile feeding and backpack meal programs. At present, meals are offered only at a central location and children must travel to the site.
To watch a video of the hearing or to read the written testimony of witnesses, click here.