Rep. Corrine Brown: “earlier this week, I spoke with 95 little 3-year-olds in my district. Tonight, I rise on their behalf. The school lunch…”

“earlier this week, I spoke with 95 little 3-year-olds in my district. Tonight, I rise on their behalf. The school lunch program has worked well since 1946--it's not broken. America's children are our most important resource for the future. Studies show that if a child is hungry, taxpayer dollars for education are wasted because when kids are hungry they can't learn. According to the Children's Defense Fund, millions of children will go hungry by cutting funds for school lunches, food stamps, child care, Head Start meals, and WIC programs. Republican double-talk says ``cuts to school lunches'' aren't ``cuts,'' but block grants to States. That deceives the American people. As a 10-year veteran of the Florida legislature, I can tell you that sending Federal dollars to the States as block grants does not ensure that these funds will go to child nutrition programs. This school lunch program began after the start of World War II when young men tried to enlist in the military and were rejected because they were malnourished and couldn't pass the physical. President Truman wisely determined that producing healthy youngsters was in the national interest. It still is today. Congress should not be cutting child nutrition and child care. These cuts take food out of the mouths of hungry children. No big federally subsidized defense contractor has seen a dime threatened. No wealthy individual has seen his special tax breaks cut.”