By Crystal Swann
December 20, 2010

The House of Representatives in a strong show of bipartisan support passed S. 3307, The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, legislation in a vote of 264 to 157, reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act. The legislation improves the nutritional quality of school meals; strengthens nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools; provides funding for farm-to'school programs and school gardens; would establish nutrition requirements and technical assistance to child care providers to help improve the health of young children; and would provide an additional 21 million meals to children annually.

First Lady Michelle Obama lobbied for new school lunch standards as part of her "Let's Move" campaign to combat childhood obesity. The standards would not remove foods like hamburgers from schools but would make them healthier, using leaner meat or whole-wheat buns, for example. Vending machines could be stocked with less candy and fewer high-calorie drinks.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously in August, but stalled in the House, with many Democrats concerned that the $4.5 billion expansion would be funded in part by cutting back the federal food stamp program. The decision to eliminate the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) temporary benefit increase provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), caused many congressional members to express grave concern over using food stamp money to pay for child nutrition. However, after receiving assurances from President Obama that he would restore the food stamp cuts, the members cautiously lifted their objections and lent their full support to the bill, paving the way for the recent House vote.

September marked the nation's first commemoration of National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Yet while one in three U.S. children are obese or overweight, one in four struggle with hunger. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service reported last week that more than 50 million Americans, including more than 17 million children, are food insecure – meaning they lack consistent access to a nutritious, well-balanced diet.

In this new legislation, schools that follow new USDA nutrition guidelines would receive six cents more per meal authorizing the first increase in meal reimbursement to schools in 37 years and would give the federal government the authority to regulate food sold in schools, including vending machines. In addition, the bill authorizes several programs through 2015 including National School Lunch Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. The Conference of Mayors has strong policy supporting the supplemental nutrition assistance program (food stamp) and child nutrition programs and we urge the administration and congress to restore the $2.2 billion in cuts to the food stamp program. At this printing, the President most likely will have signed the bill into law.