This is the home stretch for Child Nutrition Reauthorization!
NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT!
This week, the Community Food Security Coalition joined 127 other national organizations urging Congress to pass a strong child nutrition bill [pdf]. This legislation would strengthen programs like school meals, WIC, and summer and afterschool feeding programs, and PROVIDE MANDATORY FUNDING FOR FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAMS. With 1 in 4 children in our nation struggling with hunger and 1 in 3 obese or overweight, the Child Nutrition Reauthorization could not come at a more critical time. 
 
Congress is poised to make significant progress against child hunger and childhood obesity by increasing children’s access to these important food and nutrition programs. But Congress is running out of legislative calendar days to bring the Child Nutrition Bill to the floor and complete the reauthorization before it expires on September 30th.


What does it mean if CNR doesn't get done this year?  
If a Child Nutrition Bill is not passed this summer, millions of children will miss out on improved access to the nutritious food they need to learn and grow.
More specifically:

• Unhealthy food will remain in school vending machines;
• Schools will lose about $300 million a year in new meal reimbursements;
• There will be no mandatory funding for Farm to School Programs; and
• There will be no new improvements to nutrition and physical activity in school and child care settings.

We need to get this bill passed and onto the President’s desk before September 30th, when the current programs expire. Your voice is needed to demonstrate national support for completing a strong Child Nutrition Bill this year. Please call or email your members of Congress today!
 

How can I help?

Call or Email your Senators and Representative with a simple message: America’s children can’t wait. Pass Child Nutrition Reauthorization now.

 

It's Easy.
Call 202-225-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senator or Representative’s office.
Don’t know who your Representative is?  Look it up online.
Don’t know who your Senator is? Look it up online. 

Or, Email your Senators and Representative in support of Child Nutrition Reauthorization.


The message is simple.
With 1 in 4 kids at-risk of hunger and 1 in 3 obese or overweight, the time for strong action is now. Congress must pass a robust, well-funded child nutrition bill this summer to help reach the national goals to end child hunger by 2015 and solve child obesity in a generation. The health and future of America’s children depend on it.
Please bring the child nutrition bill (S. 3307/H.R. 5504) to the floor.

Want to do more?

Great, we could use all the help we can get! Here are some other ideas for taking action:

• Schedule a meeting in-district while your Member of Congress is back home during August Recess. Schedule face-time with your Member, or their staff, over the summer recess (House on 7/31; Senate on 8/7; both return on 9/13) - whether through a meeting or site visit at your school, agency or program.  If face-time is not an option, schedule quality time through a "community conference call."  Click here to learn more about planning site visits.
   
• Write a Letter to the Editor or Op-Ed for your local paper on the importance of passing a Child Nutrition bill this year. Click here to see an Op-Ed written by Margo Wootan from CSPI and published in The Hill this week.

• TWITTER IT! Click here for sample messages from our friends at FRAC.

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Background on the Child Nutrition Bills in Congress

The Senate Agriculture Committee unanimously passed a child nutrition bill, S.3307: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, out of their committee on March 24, 2010. The Senate bill has an overall price-tag of $4.5 billion (over 10 years) in new investments, with funding sources proposed to come from cuts to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, SNAP Education, and Bonus Commodities.

The House Education and Labor Committee passed their child nutrition bill, H.R. 5504: Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act, on July 15, 2010.  The cost of this bill is estimated to be about $8 billion (over 10 years) in new program investments, but funding sources have not yet been identified. Funding sources will need to be identified before it can go to the full House for a vote.

For more background information on Child Nutrition Reauthorization, Farm to School programs and The One Tray campaign, click here.

Questions? Please contact the CFSC Policy Office: 202-543-8602