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The Human Needs Report is the Coalition on Human Needs' newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and vulnerable populations. It is published every other week while Congress is in session.
Article from the May, 21 2004 editionof the CHN Human NeedsReport:On Wednesday, May 19, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry approved a bill to reauthorize and moderately expand national child nutrition programs, including school breakfast, lunch, and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) programs. The House passed a similar bill (HR 3873) on March 24 with strong bipartisan support.
Currently, children in families with incomes up 130 percent of the poverty levelare eligible to receive free lunches, and those at 185 percent are eligible forreduced-price meals (for a family of three, 130 percent of the poverty line is$20,371). Several senators pushed to make children living between 130 percentand 185 percent of the poverty line eligible for free meals rather than reduced-pricemeals, but the panel did not include this in its final version of the bill. Instead,the Committee approved a five-state pilot program where families with incomesup to 185 percent of the poverty level will qualify for free meals (subject toCongressional funding).
Both the House and Senate bills make the application process easier, reducingthe stigma of the program by maintaining more confidential records. Migrant childrenwill become automatically eligible for the school meals. The bill approved bythe Senate committee also permanently reauthorizes three important child nutritionprovisions scheduled to expire June 30: the eligibility of for-profit child carecenters for the Child and Adult Care Food Program if at least 25 percent of childrenare eligible for free or reduced price meals; the exclusion of military housingfrom income when determining eligibility for school meals; and the Lugar summerfood pilot programs. In addition, both bills expand the Lugar summer food pilotprogram (the Senate expands it to a total of 20 states; the House to 17).
The child nutrition bill received bipartisan support in both the House and theSenate, and both versions have rejected plans by President Bush to increase verificationstandards that would make it more difficult for families to receive these benefits.In fact, both bills have aimed to make it easier for low-income families to gainaccess to these programs.
The current program was temporarily extended in both chambers last March, whenit was set to expire. The next step is the Senate floor, and then to conferencefor a final decision before it expires at the end of June. Support for reauthorizingthe child nutrition programs was shown recently in a letter signed by over 20national organizations stating, “We believe that this legislation strikesthe right balance between needed program improvements while maintaining the integrityof the programs. The draft legislation includes many of our joint priorities,especially increasing access to programs for low-income children; enhancing thenutritional quality of meals and improving nutrition education; and providingadditional resources to vulnerable populations, such as homeless, runaway, andmigrant children”. These organizations are urging their Senators to vote “yes” onthe bill when it comes to the floor, which is expected to happen shortly afterthe upcoming Congressional recess.
For more information:
Food Research and Action Committee: Analysis of the House bill |
