Thomas Daschle: “is it my pleasure today to join my colleagues on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee in supporting…”

“is it my pleasure today to join my colleagues on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee in supporting S. 2286, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Amendments of 1998. This important bill expands subsidies for snacks in after-school programs, establishes a research program for universal school breakfasts, and makes several administrative changes in the school food service programs, in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program and in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). I believe that we have developed a good bill that represents real progress for child nutrition and school food services and I am pleased it has received strong bipartisan support. I'd like to take a few moments to elaborate on a few aspects of the bill that are particularly important to South Dakotans and to all Americans. I am a cosponsor of the Schools for Achievement Act, which would give all children, regardless of income, access to a healthy, free breakfast. While we were unable to find consensus on a way to fund a universal breakfast program, S. 2286 establishes a multi-year free breakfast study. The study will be conducted at several sites, both rural and urban, and will rigorously evaluate impact of free breakfasts. The purpose of authorizing this study is to test whether providing breakfast at school helps children perform better scholastically and improves overall levels of child nutrition.”