Ending Childhood Hunger in America
by Investing in Child Nutrition
Programs
RESULTS
• Working to create the political will to end poverty through
advocacy
• Empowering individuals to have breakthroughs in
exercising personal and political power
• 30 domestic chapters, 160 core activists, additional
network of 1500.
• Domestic campaigns: creating economic opportunity with
low-income tax credits, health care for all.
• 71 global chapters, about 375 core activists, additional
network of 1600.
• Global Campaigns: microfinance, global health, education
for all
Why Children Need Nutrition Assistance
• According to the recently released U.S.
Census Bureau Current Population Survey,
the rate of child poverty in the U.S. was 20.7
percent in 2009 up from 16.2 percent in
2000, up almost 1.4 million children in just
one year.
• Nearly one in every four children in the U.S.
lived in food insecure households in 2008
(22.5 percent of all children), up from 16.9
percent in 2007 (USDA)
• Moderate under-nutrition can have lasting
effects on cognitive development of children
Invest in Child Nutrition Programs to
End Childhood Hunger by 2015
• Federal nutrition programs help feed children in lowincome families
• Child Nutrition Reauthorization includes:
– School Breakfast and Lunch
– Special Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC)
– Summer Food Service Program,
– Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP)
• President Obama has proposed ending childhood
hunger in the U.S. by 2015 and his FY2011 budget
called for $10 billion in new funding for CN programs
over the next ten years
Child Nutrition Reauthorization
Senate bill
 Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 passed in the Senate by
voice vote in August. The bill:
– Increases child nutrition funding of $4.5 billion over ten years
• $3.2 billion to increase reimbursement rates for school meals and $1.2 billion
to improve program access and participation
– Expands the after school meal program to all 50 states
– Supports improvements in direct certification for school meals
– Creates new paperless options for universal meals
– Enhances the nutritional quality of school and pre-school food
 In the rush to a quick floor voice vote, the necessary funding
offsets/payfors were switched and almost half the bill is now
paid for by cuts to SNAP benefits (formerly food stamps).
Child Nutrition Reauthorization
House bill
 The House Education and Labor Committee passed on a bipartisan basis
The Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act of 2010. The bill:
 Increases funding for CN programs by approximately $8 billion over ten years
 Increases eligibility for school lunches by using Medicaid/CHIP data to directly
certify children
 Provides greater universal meal access in high poverty communities by eliminating
paper applications and using census data to determine school-wide eligibility
 Increases funding for nutrition education in schools
 Improves the nutritional quality of food
 The bill was reported out without offsets.
 The House has been under pressure from the Administration to pass “as
is” the Senate bill. But 100 House Members have complained about the
SNAP offset and the bill was not brought to the floor before the election
recess.
RESULTS Priorities for
Child Nutrition Reauthorization
• RESULTS urges Congress to:
 Pass a more robust bill that increases
children’s access to programs,
especially during weekends, summer,
and breakfast
 Pay for the bill without cutting SNAP
benefits
 Set us firmly on the path to meeting the
President’s goal of ending childhood
hunger by 2015
RESULTS: Child Nutrition Laser Talk
Engage: One in four American children are
at risk of going to bed hungry tonight.
Problem: In 2009, 15.4 million children
were living in poverty in the U.S., that’s 1.4
million more than the year before. And
Congress is on the brink of passing
legislation that could increase hunger.
RESULTS: Child Nutrition Laser Talk
Inform: Fortunately, Congress can instead do
something about it this year. Child nutrition programs,
like the school lunch program and WIC, are up for
reauthorization in 2010. These programs help provide
children around the country access to meals and
snacks that are essential to their health and
development. An additional $8 billion over the next
decade invested in these programs would help us
meet the President’s goal of ending child hunger in
the United States. Unfortunately, the Senate passed
their bill with less than half that amount and cut the
SNAP program (food stamps) by over $2 billion to pay
for it. We must do better for our kids.
RESULTS: Child Nutrition Laser Talk
Call to Action (House): Will you work with
House leadership, House Education and Labor
Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA-7)
and Ranking Member John Kline (R-MN-2), as
well as House Ways and Means Committee
Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI-12) and Ranking
Member Dave Camp (R-MI-4) to pass a more
robust child nutrition bill that invests the
resources needed to eliminate child hunger,
without cutting SNAP benefits to fund it?
Thank you for your time.
RESULTS: Child Nutrition Laser Talk
Call to Action (Senate): Will you work with
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Ranking Member
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), as well as Senate
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (DMT) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
to not use future SNAP benefits to pay for the
child nutrition bill that Congress must pass?
Thank you for your time.
RESOURCES
• RESULTS Health Care for All pages:
http://www.results.org/issues/us_poverty_campaigns/health_care_for_all/
• Child Nutrition Resources
 Food Research and Action Center: www.frac.org
 Senate Agriculture Committee: http://ag.senate.gov/site/
 House Education and Labor Committee: http://edlabor.house.gov/