Larsen Applauds President Obama for Signing Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act to Reduce Childhood Hunger

Washington, DC, December 13, 2010

Today, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02), a member of the House Hunger Caucus, released the following statement after President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (S. 3307) into law. The legislation will help school districts improve the nutritional quality of the food they offer kids, expand after-school and breakfast programs, and connect schools to local farms so children can have fresh and healthy produce. 

“I applaud the President for signing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law. I am encouraged by the commitment of the President and First Lady to ending childhood hunger by 2015. I will continue to work with the Obama Administration to make sure that all Americans, and especially low-income children, are getting enough to eat.

“In my Congressional District, nearly one in six families suffer from hunger and in Washington state over 400,000 children are from families that can not afford to put food on the table.  In the last year, I visited schools in Monroe and Mount Baker, and Boys and Girls Clubs in Everett and Ferndale, to learn what our community is doing to ensure local children are getting enough nutritious food to eat every day, and what Congress can do to help. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act supports the great work being done by schools and non-profits in Northwest Washington.

“This law is an important step towards making sure that no child goes hungry, but there is still more work to be done to ensure that low-income kids get nutritious food at the times when they are most vulnerable to hunger-during the summer, after school, and on weekends. As a member of the House Hunger Caucus, I will continue working to help local schools and organizations provide nutritious meals to children 365 days a year.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act contains the following policy changes to ensure that low-income children have access to nutritious food: 

  • Improve the nutritional quality of school meals by providing school districts with an additional 6 cents per meal if they comply with federal nutrition standards. This will be the first federal reimbursement rate increase in more than 30 years.  
  • Require the Agriculture Department to develop science-based nutrition standards for all foods that kids can buy on a school campus. This will help reduce the amount of high calorie food and beverages in schools.  
  • Expand the after-school meal program for at-risk children by reimbursing the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) providers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for providing an after-school meal to at-risk kids.  This provision is estimated to provide an additional 21 million meals to at-risk children every year.

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