CHILD FEEDING AND NUTRITION EDUCATION PROGRAMS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10:40 a.m., in room 2261, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Roman C. Pucinski (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Pucinski and Veysey. Also present: Hon. Carl D. Perkins, chairman of the full committee. Staff members present: John Jennings, counsel; Alexandra J. Kisla, clerk; Toni Painter, secretary; Charles Radcliffe, minority counsel, and Dennis Taylor, minority associate counsel. (Text of H.R. 5291 follows:) (1) 92D CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5291 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 1, 1971 Mr. PERKINS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the ComImittee on Education and Labor A BILL To establish a universal food service and nutrition education program for children. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That this Act may be cited as the "Child Nutrition Act of 4 5 6 7 1971". FINDING AND DECLARATION OF POLICY SEC. 2. (a) The Congress hereby finds that (1) the proper nutrition of the Nation's children is a matter of highest 8 priority, (2) there is a demonstrated relationship between the 9 intake of food and good nutrition and the capacity of children 10 to develop and learn, (3) the teaching of the principles of 11 good nutrition in schools has been seriously inadequate, as I 2 1 evidenced by the existence of poor or less than adequate diets 2 at all levels of family income, (4) any procedure or "means 3 test" to determine the eligibility of a child for a free or re4 duced-price meal is degrading and injurious both to the child 5 and his parents, and (5) the national school lunch and re6 lated child nutrition programs, while making significant con7 tributions in the field of applied nutrition research, are not, as S presently constituted, capable of achieving the goal of good 9 nutrition for all children. 10 (b) It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress 11 to assure adequate nutrition offerings for the Nation's chil12 dren, to encourage the teaching of the principles of good nu13 trition as an integral part of the total educational process, 14 and to strengthen State and local administration of food 15 service programs for children. It is further declared to be 16 the policy of Congress that food service programs conducted 17 under this Act be available to all children on the same basis 18 without singling out or identifying certain children as differ ent from their classmates. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNIVERSAL FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN SEC. 3. The Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter re ferred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to formulate and administer cooperatively with the State educational agencies, a universal food service and nutrition education program for 1 3 children in schools of high school grade and under and in 2 service institutions conducting programs for the benefit of 3 all children. To the fullest extent practicable, the Secretary 4 shall utilize the available services and expertise of other 5 Federal departments, State educational agencies, and private 6 organizations concerned with nutrition and nutrition educa7 tion in the formulation of program requirements and regu8 lations. The program shall be so designed as to provide each 9 child an equal opportunity to participate on the same basis as all other children with no discrimination as to time or 11 place of serving or types and amounts of foods offered. 10 12 13 APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZED SEC. 4. (a) For each fiscal year there are hereby 14 authorized to be appropriated, such sums as may be neces15 sary to enable the Secretary to carry out the provisions of 16 this Act. Such appropriations for any fiscal year are author17 ized to be made a year in advance of the fiscal year in which 18 the funds will become available for disbursement to the 19 States. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any 20 funds appropriated to carry out the provisions of the Act 21 shall remain available for the purposes of this Act until 22 expended. 23 (b) Appropriations for the purposes of this Act shall 24 be considered, for the purpose of budget presentations, to |