Today is September 18, 2009. The deadline for reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act is September 30, 2009. The Senate Agriculture Committee has jurisdiction over this legislation and newly named Senate Agriculture Chairman Blanche Lincoln has repeatedly said that reauthorizing this legislation is among her top priorities. The question is, can the legislation be reauthorized before the deadline—particularly given the partisan tone that has overtaken the Capitol during the summer?According to a senior committee staffer, the answer is yes. The plan at the moment, according to the staffer is for Congress to pass a temporary extension of the current law so the bill won’t expire on the 30th. According to the staffer, doing so would actually create roughly $150 million in savings. The Senate Committee plans to be in touch with the White House soon over what priorities could be helped out with some additional funding. What those priorities may be remains to be seen.
Rep. George Miller (CA) may not be too wild about a simple extension as he would like to see legislative changes implemented so that childhood obesity could more adequately be addressed by the act. It seems unlikely the California Democrat, who is a close ally and advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA), would hold-up a simple extension, but he may try what he can to make sure his priorities get addressed when actual changes are made to the legislation.
The Child Nutrition Act reimburses school districts for meals; after-school food programs; summer-food programs; and food served at child and adult day-care facilities. The bill also funds a program that provides food aid for low-income children and pregnant women. The school lunch program feeds 30 million children daily, while more than 8 million people received food from these programs in 2007.
The Child Nutrition Act is funded to the tune of $15 billion annually. The administration would like to see a yearly $1 billion increase in funding, but since the legislation is subject to pay-as-you-go rules it will be difficult from Congress to come up with sources of funding to meet the administration’s desires. Either way, expect legislative action on the Child Nutrition Act to come up in the very near future.
Posted: 09/18/09
