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Share Our Strength® Statement on U.S. Senate Passage of the Child Nutrition Act

On August 5, the U.S. Senate passed a new bill designed to reduce childhood hunger and help schools improve the nutritional quality of the meals they provide.

We applaud that the $4.5 billion Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act increases the number of low-income children who will be eligible for free or reduced-cost meals as this provision will connect more children in need with access to healthy meals. We also support the focus on improved standards for all foods in schools, including items sold in vending machines, to provide children healthier options.

The Senate, however, erred when it decided to pay for the bill by cutting funding to the food stamp program (now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP). This program is a vital nutrition assistance mechanism that millions of families rely on each year, and the Senate's version of the bill would cut it by $1.3 billion, effective in 2013. Taking this safety net away from families is in contrast to the spirit of the overall child nutrition reauthorization, which has not seen an increase in funding in the last 30 years.

The House of Representatives has yet to vote on their version of the child nutrition bill and we encourage the House not to use cuts in food stamp benefits to pay for offsets to their bill. Share Our Strength supports the House bill as it now stands, particularly the Ending Childhood Hunger Challenge Act introduced by Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) that would challenge states to end childhood hunger by 2015 and give them tools and resources to do so.

With nearly one in four children struggling with hunger, we need to attack the critical issue of childhood hunger in America by arming the states with greater resources and rewarding innovative programs that reach more children who need nutritious meals. We believe the priorities in the pending House bill are those that will help end childhood hunger by 2015 by increasing access for children to important child nutrition programs, particularly free school breakfast and out-of-school meals and providing incentives to states to end childhood hunger.

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