Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy as I appreciate his important leadership on the child nutrition program legislation. In Oregon, we are the third hungriest State in the country, so there is much in this legislation that means a difference immediately to families and children in our State. But indeed, expanding school lunch meal programs to all 50 States, the $40 million in mandatory farm-to-school funding, these are all elements that everybody ought to rejoice about. Our children deserve our best, the most nutritious food that we can give them, and sadly that is not the case with school lunch programs, as we all know. This bill, while not as good as the bill, Mr. Miller, that you originally drafted, will help provide more children with healthy food choices. I am particularly pleased with the additional farm-to-school funding. This will help children, teachers, and local farmers. This is exactly the sort of win-win program we should be focusing on, particularly during difficult economic times. We all should be troubled by the decrease in the food stamp funding that is used to help deal with the financing deficit in this bill. I hope the administration will indeed work hard with us to find ways to diminish the cut. It is a sad day when the only way we can feed hungry children at school is by taking away food from them at home.”