Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I am introducing the Local School Foods Expansion Act to establish a permanent program that will provide schools with locally-grown, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. Hunger is a huge problem in Oregon, and this pain has a huge impact in schools. In Oregon, one in four children experience food insecurity and they face a great challenge keeping up with learning on empty stomachs. I have supported Federal school lunch programs for many years, and I strongly believe that the best programs rely on local producers and make an effort to ensure lunches are healthy and nutritious. The Local School Foods Expansion Act is a common sense approach to child nutrition that empowers children while strengthening the local economy and contributing to vibrant communities. The bill amends the National School Lunch Program to make permanent a program that increases opportunities for lunch programs to procure locally-grown, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. The bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture to expand the very successful pilot procurement programs to at least 15 States, and contains a mandatory appropriation of nine million dollars in each fiscal year from 2019 to 2023. No child should be hungry in school, and it's critical that their meals contain nutritious fruits and vegetables. At the same time, we must work to maintain domestic production of fruits and vegetables by ensuring that hardworking farmers have a fair and reliable market for their produce.…”