Senate Passes Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act

WASHINGTONA new bill designed to improve the overall healthfulness of school foodservice passed the Senate on Aug. 5. The $4.5 billion Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is designed to improve standards for all foods in schools, including items sold in vending machines, to provide healthier options. The bill also would increase the number of low-income children who are eligible for free or reduced-cost meals.

The impetus to kick-start action on the legislation, which had stalled since it was passed by Senate committee in March, came this week when President Barack Obama called Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) regarding the senators concerns about the cost of the bill. Coburn had threatened to object to it, but Obama assured him that the legislation was paid for. This bill has been a top priority for Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.).

After its passage by the Senate, first lady Michelle Obama called the bill a groundbreaking piece of legislation that will help us provide healthier school meals to children across America" that will play an integral role in our efforts to combat childhood obesity."

A similar bill is pending in the House after committee approval last month.

Commenting about the passage of the Act, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) issued the following statement:

We are pleased the Senate passed legislation to ensure low-income children continue to receive nutritious meals through the federal food program. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act includes provisions FMI has sought to help lay the groundwork for a smooth transition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) customers to use an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card for their transactions at grocery stores. This is a very positive development and we applaud Senators Lincoln and Chambliss for their work on it. We are, however, disappointed that the Senate cut funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $1.3 billion. Although this cut is not immediate, taking place in 2013, it is on top of another cut to SNAP (2014-2016) that was made earlier in the day on Thursday (in H.R. 1586, the state assistance bill on teacher pay and Federal Medical Assistance Percentage extension)."