Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Maine for her graciousness and for her leadership on this important amendment that she and I brought to the floor. Clearly, the 2012 Agriculture appropriations bill that will direct the USDA to provide adequate flexibility to schools to deliver students nutritious school meals while effectively managing costs is very important. But we have to do it in the right way. I want to share my thinking on what the right way is. In January of this year the USDA issued a proposed rule for nutritional standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs that would limit total servings of certain vegetables--most notably potatoes, corn, green peas, and lima beans--to one cup per week and eliminate potatoes from school breakfasts. I have heard from school lunch providers in Colorado that this restriction will result in significant challenges for food service operations through increased costs, reduced flexibility, and decreased school meal participation. This is especially concerning for them in my State, and I think as the Senator from Maine has pointed out, all over our country because school districts are facing increasingly tight budgets. Many children from Colorado and across the Nation depend on school meal programs to keep them nourished and ready to learn.…”