Tom Harkin: “this amendment would simply continue a small program that provides assistance to help start and expand school breakfast…”

“this amendment would simply continue a small program that provides assistance to help start and expand school breakfast and summer food programs for low-income kids. This is directly related to education. When these kids come in to school, they can have breakfast in the morning; they can receive meals in the summer when school is out--but only if there is a school breakfast or summer food program locally. That is why the start-up and expansion grants are so important. Also, I want to say that this amendment does not prevent the nutrition portion of this bill from meeting the 6-year budget instruction. The Ag Committee's portion of the bill reduces spending by $570 million more than its instruction. This program will spend only $39 million for grants over 6 years, but it is a vitally important program. This amendment is supported by the American School Food Service Association, the Food Research and Action Center, and the Children's Defense Fund. I ask you not to cut a program that gets kids into school and gets them learning.”