Steven Holt: “Mr. Speaker, this important bill will increase the number of children enrolled in school meals programs, and it will…”

“Mr. Speaker, this important bill will increase the number of children enrolled in school meals programs, and it will provide more meals for at-risk children nationwide; it will improve the quality of school meals; it removes junk food from the schools; it provides nutrition and wellness for the students, and it increases the reimbursement rate for schools. This is too important to delay another day. I want to thank Chairman Miller for including in the bill language that I wrote on Farm to School improvements, which will provide tens of millions of dollars in mandatory funding for fresh vegetables. Now, since I come from New Jersey, it may not be a surprise that I support bringing Jersey tomatoes and sweet corn into the schools, but this has real nutritional benefits and educational benefits as well as improving the economics of local farmers. Of course, it will also help, as we've heard, fight childhood obesity. It is important to point out--and I must emphasize this to my colleague who just spoke--that this is paid for fully by cuts in other programs, and I pledge to restore any funds borrowed from future years of food stamp funding to cover this.”