S. 3307, The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010

Floor Speech

* Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. This bill is a good first step in addressing childhood hunger and poor nutrition, which are two of the greatest public health challenges facing the United States today.

* I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation, which passed the Senate unanimously. It contains the most significant improvements in 30 years to the child nutrition programs that serve millions of children across our country. This legislation expands access to healthy foods for kids, makes it easier for low-income kids to enroll in the school meal programs, improves the nutritional quality of school meals, significantly decreases the availability of junk food and sugary beverages from school vending machines, and expands access to after-school meals for low-income kids.

* This is a vote that I do not take lightly. While I never questioned the need to improve child nutrition programs across the country, I did question the Senate's choice to pay for this legislation with a reduction in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. SNAP benefits are an essential part of this nation's nutrition safety net. More than 41 million Americans rely upon SNAP benefits monthly to put food on the table. According to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Data and Statistics Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Report, released in October 2010, the number of households in my home state of Georgia receiving food stamps jumped from 581,709 total households in July of 2009 to 716,749 households in July of 2010--an increase of 23.2% in just one year. Many SNAP recipients are children or seniors, and I had serious concerns that the SNAP reduction would be a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. I was deeply concerned that reducing SNAP benefits to pay for this bill would hurt the people it was meant to help--children of low-income families striving to make ends meet during this turbulent economy.

* After a long thought process, I stand here before you as a strong supporter of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. As a Member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, I joined a letter to the Obama Administration expressing opposition to reducing SNAP benefits to fund this bill, or any other legislative priority. The President and his Administration share these concerns and have assured Congress that it will work with us to restore this cut and use their current authorities to protect the integrity of SNAP benefits and further improve children's access to nutrition programs.

* This bill would be instrumental in helping to address the growing crises of child hunger and also of childhood obesity. In terms of child hunger, last year, more than 1.29 million Georgia students participated in the Free and Reduced Price Lunch Program. Obesity is a national crisis, but it is of a particular concern in my home state of Georgia which has the second highest prevalence of obese 10-17 year olds in the nation. The provisions in the child nutrition bill that improve nutritional quality of foods served on school campuses throughout the school day and those that strengthen Local School Wellness Policies can help to combat the rise in childhood obesity we see here in Georgia. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey report released in September 2010, 22.3% of Georgia's children live in poverty--that's more than half a million children under age 18.

* I would be remiss if I did not mention two key individuals in my district that have worked hard to combat childhood obesity. Dr. Yvonne Butler founded Healthy Kids Smart Kids. Healthy Kids Smart Kids is an organization that fights childhood obesity and educates adults and children on healthy eating and staying active. She started the first sugar-free school program in Georgia at Browns Mill Elementary School in Lithonia. Ms. Pat ``Shy'' Haggans is a certified personal trainer and lifestyle coach who founded Generation Next Sports Performance facility in Lithonia where she specializes in getting kids fit to fight obesity. Like Dr. Butler, she has helped hundreds of kids shed pounds through exercise, planning and lifestyle changes to combat childhood obesity. She assists parents as well to ensure that the next generation will be healthier than ours.

* It is important to recognize that this bill would not be on the floor now if it were not for Representatives GEORGE MILLER, ROSA DELAURO, and JAMES MCGOVERN. Their leadership in conducting negotiations with the Obama Administration was key to moving this bill forward.

* I strongly support the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which would also help advance the Administration's goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation, and urge my colleagues to do the same.

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