Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak to an amendment to the farm bill on a subject important not only to the farmers of Maine but also to the participants in the WIC program. I am pleased that Senator Mark Udall has joined as the lead cosponsor of the amendment, which would require that all fresh fruits and vegetables, including fresh white potatoes, be included in the final USDA rule. Specifically, the amendment would only allow fresh, whole, or cut vegetables to be included--vegetables with added sugars, fats, or oils would be prohibited. The proposed final USDA rule for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, WIC, food package, which went into effect in December 2009, includes a ban on the purchase of fresh white potatoes by WIC participants. Fresh potatoes are the only fruit or vegetable to be excluded, which sends a message to WIC participants that USDA believes that potatoes are not healthy. The USDA has said that the proposed ban on fresh white potatoes is based on a 2005 National Academies' Institute of Medicine, IOM, report, which considered recommendations of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, DGA, and includes consumption data nearly 20 years old. The subsequently published 2010 DGA, however, recommends 5 to 6 cups of starchy vegetables per week for women with a daily caloric intake of 1,800 to 2,400 calories--an increase of 2 to 3 cups per week from the 2005 DGA.…”