End Hunger Now

Floor Speech

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Senate passed the farm bill conference report, something the House did almost 2 weeks ago. I want to thank my House and Senate colleagues who stood firm and voted against the conference report because of the egregious cuts to SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. I am especially proud and thankful that none of my Massachusetts colleagues voted for the bill. Unfortunately, I think many of those who voted for this bill will ultimately come to regret their vote.

Now that the fight over SNAP funding and the farm bill is over, it is time to look forward and once again refocus on how we can end hunger now. Despite the attacks on the poor that come from the Republican leadership in this Congress, there are good things that are happening among the antihunger community, and there are opportunities out there that we can take advantage of as we work to end hunger now.

Every day, millions of hungry kids are able to eat a nutritious meal because of the school lunch program. In fact, 29 million children in more than 98,000 schools and residential child care institutions participate in the school lunch program on a typical day. Nearly 20 million kids receive their lunch at either a reduced price or free.

The school lunch program is a lifeline for these kids who come from poor families. It is not their fault that their parents don't earn enough for them to put food on the table. For most of these kids, this is the only nutritious meal, and in some cases, the only meal they will eat on a weekday. That is why this program is so important.

Imagine what happens to a child who goes to school hungry. It is harder for that child to pay attention in class, leading to difficulty learning and also leading to challenges in terms of their development, mentally and physically. Kids who go without food are literally at a disadvantage to those who are eating healthy meals. They are starting from a much worse position, and it is because America decides not to help.

That is changing. Participation in the school lunch program is strong, and the good news is that participation in the school breakfast program is rising.

I want to highlight a recent report from the Food Research and Action Center, or FRAC, as they are commonly known. FRAC reports that 311,000 more kids received school breakfast than the previous year.

We all know how important breakfast is. Our parents all told us to eat a healthy breakfast so we can learn and grow. I tell my kids the same thing every day, even though they don't always pay attention. The school breakfast program is a critical part of ensuring that kids from poor families are able to start the day off right; that they don't start the school day off hungry, so they can learn properly and they can develop.

Unlike the school lunch program, where the meal is served during the school day when kids are already in school, many of these school breakfast programs take place before school starts. Because of that starting time, millions of kids don't participate in the school breakfast program. That is why this report from FRAC is so encouraging. Schools are starting to offer breakfast free of charge to all children, not just kids who qualify based on income. Schools are moving breakfast out of the cafeteria and into the classroom after school starts, something that is known as Breakfast After the Bell.

I am pleased that a new Federal program called Community Eligibility, a program in seven States that allows high-poverty schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students without the need for an application, is increasing daily breakfast participation. FRAC found that daily breakfast participation rose by 5 percent in these seven States compared to 2 1/2 percent in nonparticipating States.

We can do better, but this is encouraging. Kids who eat healthy, nutritious meals do better in school and have fewer problems as they grow up. School meals are a critical part of ensuring that kids eat properly. School breakfasts are a big part of the equation. FRAC found that if all States increased participation so they reached 70 poor kids with breakfast for every 100 that ate lunch, 3.8 million children would have been added to the breakfast program, and States would have received more than $964 million in added Federal nutrition funding in 2012 and 2013.

We should be proud of the work that USDA and States and localities are doing to increase breakfast participation. As we move towards a reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, we must remember these important programs and build on them. We must do everything we can to end hunger now, and improving on the school breakfast program is just one way to do it.

All of us, Mr. Speaker, both Democrats and Republicans, need to step it up in our battle to end hunger. We should all be ashamed that so many in our country, including millions of our children, go hungry. Sadly, Mr. Speaker, many of the actions that have been taken by this Congress have made hunger worse in this country. We are the richest country in the history of the world. Surely we can do better. Surely we can end hunger now.

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