Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise this evening to discuss an amendment numbered 757 that I have offered with my colleague from Colorado, Senator Mark Udall, that would protect the flexibility of schools to serve healthy vegetables in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. This is a bipartisan amendment that we are offering. It is cosponsored by Senators Crapo, Risch, Snowe, Ayotte, Wyden, Johanns, Nelson of Nebraska, Mikulski, and Hoven. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed a rule that would limit servings of a certain category of vegetables that includes white potatoes, corn, peas, and lima beans. It would limit them to a total of one cup per week in the National School Lunch Program. The proposed rule would also ban this category of vegetables altogether from the School Breakfast Program. Our bipartisan amendment would prevent the Department of Agriculture from moving forward with this arbitrary limitation. I am concerned the proposed rule would impose significant cuts on schools and would limit the flexibility they need to serve nutritious, affordable meals to their students. For those who are less familiar with this issue, let me give my colleagues some background. Current law already requires the School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to follow the most recent dietary guidelines for Americans. Last year, the USDA released the newest dietary guidelines that call for all Americans of all ages to eat more vegetables.…”