Political Quotes

“At a time when one-third of our nation's children are overweight or obese, educating them in physical competence, health-related fitness and healthy behaviors is critical to their development and long-term success as productive citizens. Unfortunately, my Republican Colleagues fail to address this need in H.R. Quality physical education and health education programs are essential components of a comprehensive K-12 curriculum. Recent studies, such as the Health in Mind report released by the Healthy Schools Campaign, show that health and fitness are linked to improved academic performance, cognitive ability, and behavior, as well as, reduced truancy. Physical education increases physical competence, health-related fitness, social responsibility and enjoyment of physical activity. Quality health education is also essential to supporting the formation of health-literate and health-conscious adults, and the development of life-long healthy habits that can help reduce the enormous burden of health care costs to this nation. The lack of physically fit and health-literate graduates has become a national security issue--being overweight or obese has become the leading medical reason why applicants fail to qualify for military service. The Institute of Medicine recognizes the important role physical education plays in combating childhood obesity, and that is why it recently recommended that physical education be included as a core subject in schools.…”