End Hunger Now

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, while Republicans continue to fight amongst themselves, Democrats remain united in working for the American people.

I rise to applaud the USDA Food and Nutrition Services' efforts to give more of America's students access to universal free school meals.

A new final rule published by USDA makes more schools eligible for Federal funds to cover the costs of healthy, nutritious breakfasts and lunches for all students.

This Federal program, called the Community Eligibility Provision, eliminates school meal debts, minimizes shame in the lunch line, and reduces paperwork for school nutrition staff and families.

It will hopefully encourage more States to adopt permanent universal free school meals as my home State of Massachusetts recently did.

Mr. Speaker, this is a big deal. Thank you to President Biden, Vice President Harris, Secretary Vilsack, and Deputy Under Secretary Dean for delivering on commitments coming out of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.

I am thrilled that in the richest country in the world, we are making progress to ensure that all kids have access to nutritious food as part of their school day.

Together, we can continue this progress, and together, we can end hunger now.

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