Tom Harkin: “I hope to clarify our intent on one provision of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004-- the provision…”

“I hope to clarify our intent on one provision of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004-- the provision pertaining to the Fruit and Vegetable Program. When the Fruit and Vegetable Program was first enacted as part of the 2002 farm bill, the legislative language did not specify which States were to be participants in the program, but the States were specified in the conference report. The Department of Agriculture followed the conference recommendations. Because we are passing this bill with a somewhat unusual process that will not involve a conference report, I would like to clarify which States are intended to be added to the program. Committee staff discussions have intended that the additional States to participate in the Fruit and Vegetable Program are Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota, and this was our understanding as we finalized this bill. I am in agreement with these discussions, and it is on this basis that we are completing this bill.”