WASHINGTON (AP) -- Legislation to feed more lunches and dinners to hungry children at school is about to become law.
President Barack Obama will be accompanied by his wife, Michelle, as he signs the bill. The ceremony is scheduled to take place Monday at a District of Columbia elementary school.
The $4.5 billion bill would expand free school meals for the low-income students and give the government the power to make them healthier. The government will decide what kinds of foods may be sold in vending machines, lunch lines and fundraisers during school hours.
Supporters say the law is needed to stem rising health care costs because of growing childhood obesity and also to feed more hungry children in tough economic times. Some Republicans contend the measure is too expensive and an example of government overreach.
Read more: President to sign child nutrition bill - Lowell Sun Online
I guess the Republicans failed to stop it.
No more fundraising from bake sales. Is big government going to also pay for things that the bakesales usually pay for? Or should they switch to apple and spinach sales?
My biggest concern about this legislation is whether children are going to be willing to eat the healthier food.
What? You mean, this might be a waste of money?
It might be if it doesn't accomplish the goals set out. If it does, than its well worth it.
Kids aren't malnourished, they consume too many calories. Are they going to be fed Splenda sweetened food and salads? Probably not. You could take a multivitamin everyday and still be obese. I agree with giving school lunches to poor children, but the nutritional aspect behind it doesn't address the problem. The government can't control what kids eat at home either.
So, let me get this straight: we're spending $4.5 billion to keep poor kids from getting fat?
So, let me get this straight: we're spending $4.5 billion to keep poor kids from getting fat?
I thought this bill was to prevent them from starving to death, in the street. That's how it was portrayed when the Republicans opposed the bill.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Legislation to feed more lunches and dinners to hungry children at school is about to become law. President Barack Obama will be accompanied by his wife, Michelle, as he signs the bill. The ceremony is scheduled to take place Monday at a District of Columbia elementary school.
The $4.5 billion bill would expand free school meals for the low-income students and give the government the power to make them healthier. The government will decide what kinds of foods may be sold in vending machines, lunch lines and fundraisers during school hours.
Supporters say the law is needed to stem rising health care costs because of growing childhood obesity and also to feed more hungry children in tough economic times. Some Republicans contend the measure is too expensive and an example of government overreach.
I guess the Republicans failed to stop it.
No more fundraising from bake sales. Is big government going to also pay for things that the bakesales usually pay for? Or should they switch to apple and spinach sales?
Lunch for 115,000 kids at $10 each = $1,150,000It will also increase by 115,000 the number of children eligible to eat free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch at school because of streamlined certification procedures.
Vilsack, countering some reports, said the bill will not keep parents from bringing cupcakes to school for parties. And food sold outside school hours –- at a Friday night basketball game, for example –- won’t be affected.
Although six cents seems like a pittance, it will make a difference, Sam Kass, senior policy advisor for healthy food initiatives at the White House, told reporters Friday. Children will see more whole grains and more fruits and more vegetables, and more children will have the chance to learn “where food comes from and how it grows” through farm-to-school and other programs, he said.
“Hungry kids don’t learn very well,” Vilsack said. “We are in a very difficult competition to have the smartest, most creative kids on Earth” and “we cannot afford to have a third of our kids being obese.”
Tim Cipriano, executive director of food services for New Haven, Conn., public schools, said that more than 80% of the students in his district qualify for free and reduced meals. The bill will enable him to buy more local produce -– and that can have a big effect, he said, citing a child who tried a sungold tomato from a school garden.
“That little tomato can change a whole generation of kids,” he said.
I can semi understand breakfast, but dinner? Are they going to give kids small portions? The obesity problem has to do with kids culture and eating habits. They eat too much crap and sit in front of the TV too much. More calories in than what goes out, and it turns to fat. I would say it may be more beneficial to make kids take PE each year and actually have them physically work. However, I don't think the government can stop the obesity problem. I hope they don't use it as an excuse to encroach upon a family's private life and dictate what they can feed their kids. Being fat may be unhealthy, but that's still a persons right.I think this is now breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Statism on the march.
I think this is now breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Statism on the march.
I can semi understand breakfast, but dinner? Are they going to give kids small portions? The obesity problem has to do with kids culture and eating habits. They eat too much crap and sit in front of the TV too much. More calories in than what goes out, and it turns to fat. I would say it may be more beneficial to make kids take PE each year and actually have them physically work. However, I don't think the government can stop the obesity problem. I hope they don't use it as an excuse to encroach upon a family's private life and dictate what they can feed their kids. Being fat may be unhealthy, but that's still a persons right.
Actually, the best thing we can do is to stop subsidizing unhealthy food.
There is a lot of hyperbole with some here. No one said kids would starve to death. And there was also a discussion that too many wasted calories could be unhelathy, and that people could eat a lot of calories and still be malnuorished. Now, we can talk abuot any of that, but we shouldn't be too silly with the exaggerations.
That said, glad it passed and like megaprogman, hope this serves us well.
The name of the bill is "hyperbole" :doh
How you been rev? :coffeepap
My biggest concern about this legislation is whether children are going to be willing to eat the healthier food.
That is a rhetorical question. The Good Reverend is ALWAYS Awesome.impdaddy:
Let's pass the bill first and find out later!!!!!!!
Well the reason I have this concern is because Jamie Oliver (the naked chef from the UK) came over and did a school lunch program that didn't really go over well.
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