Sam Farr: “First of all, I would like to announce that the Tom Colicchio group-- he is one of those celebrity chefs and his group…”

“First of all, I would like to announce that the Tom Colicchio group-- he is one of those celebrity chefs and his group is called the Food Policy Action Network--they have told us that they are going to score the vote on this bill because of this provision that we are talking about right now and the amendment that I am going to offer to strike the provision. The reason I want to strike the provision in the bill is because it just gives it a blank waiver. It says, schools, you don't have to comply. That is too broad. We could have worked out some compromise language and more flexible language. But just to give them blank waiver, I think, is just an opt-out and doesn't necessarily get them back in, doesn't have any guidelines for how you can improve and get back on track. That's why I think it is a pretty extreme provision in the bill and ought to be knocked out. Another reason is that we are paying for it. The taxpayers of this country put up the money and we are allocating it to this program, and I don't think the taxpayers want their money to go to food that isn't nutritious, that doesn't help kids to be healthier. I am not insinuating that the other side wants that, but I am saying that with that money, as in everything we do in the whole rest of this bill, it comes with conditionality. Congress is a heavy parent. We don't just give money out. We also give instructions on what to spend it for and not to spend it for.…”