House panel approves sweeping expansion of child nutrition programs

Thursday’s committee vote was
32 to 13, with three panel Republicans — Reps. Mike Castle (Del.), Vernon
Ehlers (Mich.) and Todd Platts (Pa.) — joining all voting Democrats in support
of the bill. 

“Given the serious fiscal
challenges facing our country,” Platts said, “we must ensure that we devote our
limited resources to our nation’s most urgent priorities.”

Other Republicans aren’t so
sure. While most GOP leaders are supportive of the move to reauthorize the
existing nutrition bill, they’ve balked at the broader expansions, which come
with a pricetag expected to be around $8 billion over the next decade.

Rep. John Kline (Minn.), senior
Republican on the Education and Labor panel, said the bill represents a “costly
expansion of the federal government at a time the country can least afford it.”

“Families and small
businesses across the country are making tough decisions to weather this
economy,” Kline said. “They deserve a federal government that does the same.”

In response, Miller vowed to
pay for the whole bill, saying House PAYGO rules force him to do it. “We will
have in place the offsets before we go to the floor,” Miller said, without
offering specifics. The California Democrat also pointed out that the bill
merely authorizes the spending. The actual funding, he noted, is a battle for
appropriators.

Miller’s bill would
streamline enrollment in school meal programs by tapping information already
available through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
to certify eligibility without additional paperwork. It also expands
afterschool meal programs nationwide, and hikes federal payments to schools by
6 cents per lunch — the first non-inflationary increase in almost four decades.

Democrats were also
successful in attaching amendments to launch pilot programs to bring more vegan
and organic options to the nation’s school children. 

A similar Senate bill would
expand child nutrition programs by $4.5 billion over 10 years. Sponsored by
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), that proposal passed the Senate Agriculture
Committee with unanimous support in March.  

Thursday’s House vote won
immediate praise from Michelle Obama, whose “Let’s Move” program targets
childhood obesity. Although both congressional bills fall short of the $10
billion expansion proposed in the White House budget, the first lady urged both
House and Senate leaders to pass their reforms “without delay.”

“The President looks forward
to signing a final bill this year,” she said in a statement. 

Time is an issue — last
October, Congress passed a temporary extension of child nutrition programs, but
that law expires at the end of September.

Bruce Lesley, head of First
Focus, a bipartisan child welfare group, said this week that of all the
child-centered legislation his organization is pushing this year, the nutrition
bill looks the most promising. 

Still, the slow pace of the
Senate — combined with an ever shrinking legislative calendar — means that
nothing is guaranteed this election year. 

“Gridlock,” Lesley said, “is hurting kids.”