BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION AND FORESTRY
U.S. SENATE

MARCH 12, 1998

     Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee.  I am Shirley Watkins, Under Secretary, Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).  I am responsible for overseeing the child nutrition programs, commodity distribution programs, and the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC.  I want to commend the Committee for its leadership and commitment to these programs – I know that working together we can make the programs better in order to assist children and needy adults in the best traditions of good Government and service.

     With me today is Mr. George Braley, Associate Administrator, at the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), who many of you already know from his many dedicated years of service with the Agency.  You have our pledge to assist you and your staffs in any way we can as we work through the child nutrition reauthorization process.

The child nutrition programs are not only vitally important but have had astounding success.

     That is why I am so pleased to announce that, for the first time in nearly 20 years, the Executive Branch has transmitted to the Congress a child nutrition and WIC reauthorization bill.  The Clinton Administration  bill, which I present to you today, is cost-neutral over five years, and responds to the concerns that we have heard over the past several months at roundtables and listening sessions convened all across this country, to simplify and streamline program operations, to provide access to qualified participants, to ensure program integrity, and to assure food safety.  I am proud to say that our bill accomplishes that and more.

     I would like to describe some of the major provisions of our legislative proposal for reauthorization of the child nutrition programs; I understand that at the hearing on March 17, I will be able to discuss our proposals with respect to the WIC program.

As relates to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) we are proposing to:

  Require that all schools participating in the NSLP and the SBP, in which meals are prepared, obtain health and safety inspections covering their food service operations;
    Require that schools assess the time allowed for children to eat their meals to ensure that the time is adequate for good nutrition;
  Establish a permanent information clearinghouse for food and nutrition issues;
  Provide authority for USDA to use Section 32 funds to cover the cost of removing any unsafe food removed from inventory for any domestic food program; and
  Provide authority for USDA to accept donations of food from other Federal sources for distribution through the domestic food programs.
 
The Administration proposes the following improvements to the Summer Food Service Program:
  Currently, non-profit organizations can only serve 20 sites;  we propose to raise that up to 25 sites.  Also, there is a limit on the total number of children that can be served.  We think that limit should be eliminated.
  Adjust reimbursement rates for Alaska and Hawaii and outlying territories, just as we do in other programs.
  Allow commercial vendors to supply meals to non-profit organizations.

We are also proposing improvements to the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), including:

  Make permanent the Kentucky/Iowa Demonstration Projects;
  Allow after school facilities that meet State or local health and safety standards to participate in CACFP;
  Give Even Start participants categorical eligibility in CACFP;
  Delete the rarely used audit authority and, instead, allow States to keep 50% of all Child Nutrition Program claims they can recover, not just CACFP claims;
  Allow at-risk children between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in CACFP; and
  Move the Homeless Children Nutrition Program and the Summer Food Service Program homeless site into the CACFP.

While these are the major provisions Mr. Chairman, I want to emphasize that there are others in our proposal that merit this Committee's serious attention.  One of particular importance is the reauthorization of  the Nutrition Education and Training Program, known as NET.  NET continues to provide State infrastructure to assist schools to use nutrition education tools, but its effectiveness has been diminished by its reduced funding during the past two years.

While time does not permit a full description of every proposal, I hope this brief summary will provide you with some insight into the types of changes and improvements that this Administration is proposing for the child nutrition programs.  I ask for your support to enact these proposals, and I pledge my cooperation in working with this Committee in reaching our mutual goal of improving these excellent programs.

Mr. Chairman, that concludes my testimony.  I will be happy to answer any questions at this time.