Child Nutrition Improvement and Integrity Act
CHILD NUTRITION IMPROVEMENT AND INTEGRITY ACT -- (House of Representatives - March 24, 2004)
Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3873) to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to provide children with access to food and nutrition assistance, to simplify program operations, to improve children's nutritional health, and to restore the integrity of child nutrition programs, and for other purposes, as amended.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
(Mr. CARTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. CARTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3873, the Child Nutrition Improvement and Integrity Act, which includes language which I offered to stop infant formula theft.
Stolen infant formula is a major problem throughout the country, including Texas. In 2003, an international crime ring stole and sold as much as $2.5 million worth of baby formula a month in Texas. Testimony before the Congress revealed that some of the proceeds may go to terrorism. Undercover work also shows that this extends across the United States.
After being stolen, the formula is stored and sometimes repackaged with phony expiration dates and then it is sold to small convenience stores in the United States. The stolen formula is often resold to customers using vouchers from federally funded Women, Infants and Children programs. Undercover agents say WIC is unwittingly the number one fence for this operation in the country.
Section 409 of this legislation requires the State agencies to license and maintain a list of infant formula manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers approved to provide infant formula to the vendors. This section closes the loopholes that would allow crime rings to steal infant formula and resell this formula to the retailer, who often is unaware that the formula is stolen.
I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), along with his staff, including Kate Howston and Stephanie Milburn for the important work they have done on this legislation.