A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to extend the availability of funds to carry out the fruit and vegetable pilot program.

Mr. President, today I join my colleague from Mississippi, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, in support of this bill that would keep fresh fruits and vegetables going to over 100 schools throughout the Nation.

We hear a great deal about the importance of teaching our children good nutrition as well as about the epidemic of obesity and poor eating habits among American children. But for all the talk and concern, we do far too little about it.

Last year, I worked with my colleagues to take concrete steps to address these issues. Concerned about the fact that many children today have only minimal experiences with fresh fruits and vegetables, we created a pilot project that provides fresh fruits and vegetables to schools in Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and to schools on an Indian reservation at Zuni, NM.

Despite the fact that we know there are many positive benefits associated with the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, we still fail to do nearly enough to encourage their consumption through our Federal nutrition programs. We must do more to encourage their purchase in our schools and to promote their consumption on an individual level.

The reports that we are getting back from schools about this program are absolutely tremendous. Just last week my staff had a conference call with school administrators, parents, and students at Zuni, NM. They are almost ecstatic in their praise of the program. The children were excited to be able to try foods that they had never had a chance to eat before. Parents report that their kids are coming home to them and asking them to buy the same fruits and vegetables for the home that they eat at school. And school administrators report healthier diets, fewer discipline problems, and buy-in from the entire school community. Even the janitors love the program.

Dieticians and school officials in Iowa tell me that, because of the fruit and vegetable pilot, their work is more fulfilling now than ever before.

This is a program that we need to expand so that all schools are able to participate. As the Senate moves forward with the reauthorization of our child nutrition programs this year, I'll be looking at ways that we can do this and at ways that we can encourage healthier lifestyles for all of our children.

In the meantime, the bill that I am introducing today allows us to extend the current fruit and vegetable pilot for an additional year. Because of the short timeframe that we had to actually set up the fruit and vegetable pilot, many of the schools were not able to begin their participation in the program as quickly as they had hoped. As a result, many schools will have funds remaining at the end of the school year. They have told me, as has the Department of Agriculture, that they would like to use their carryover funds for an additional year. This bill simply extends the authorization of the Department of Agriculture to continue the program for another year.

This does not provide any new money. It simply allows the schools to carryover current funds into the 2003 school year. The Congressional Budget Office has indicated that there is no cost associated with this.

As evidenced by the concurrence of Senator Cochran, this is a non- partisan, non-controversial bill, and I urge my colleagues to work with me to see that this program is extended before its current authorization runs out on June 30 of this year.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 870) to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to extend the availability of funds to carry out the fruit and vegetable pilot program.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on S. 870.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 870, a bill to extend the period of time for which participating schools may provide free, fresh and dried fruits and fresh vegetables to children in schools. This pilot program, which was authorized as part of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, provides fruits and vegetables to children in an effort to increase their consumption of these healthful foods.

I am proud that Ohio was selected to be one of the four States participating in this pilot program and that two of these schools are in Ohio's 8th district, which I represent, Nevin Coppock Elementary School in Tipp City, Ohio, and Stebbins High School in Riverside, Ohio.

On April 10, the other body passed S. 870, which allows additional time for the current funds to be expended. It does not authorize new money to be spent on the pilot. S. 870 enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the other body and is supported in the House on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, a recent evaluation of the fruit and vegetable pilot program by the United States Department of Agriculture says that this pilot was popular amongst parents, teachers, and students, and successfully increased children's interest in making fruits and vegetables a regular part of their diet. Now, this is an encouraging finding at a time when rates of overweight and obesity amongst children are at an all-time high and that these rates are continuing to rise steadily without any sign of a reverse in this troubling trend.

Growing scientific evidence demonstrates a strong link between nutrients found in fruits and vegetables and the reduced risk of several chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and others. According to the Office of the Surgeon General, diet-related diseases cost this country approximately $117 billion each year, and several other estimates are even larger.

Nutrition experts strongly encourage Americans to consume a variety of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, yet data from the national nutrition and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that only one in four Americans, about 24 percent, eat five or more fruits and vegetables a day, and children tend to eat less fruits and vegetables than adults. This evidence makes clear the importance of our efforts to encourage children to develop an interest in fruits and vegetables at a young age.

Today, I am pleased with the strong level of bipartisan support received by this pilot program and urge my colleagues to support S. 870 to extend this pilot into the next year.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 870 which authorizes the extension of a valuable school pilot program included in the 2002 Farm Bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Fruit and Vegetable pilot program.

This program has provided an extraordinary opportunity to distribute free fruits and vegetables to students throughout the school day in an effort to increase their consumption of these healthful foods. Because this pilot did not begin until nearly midway through the school year, participating schools have requested that the Congress allow them additional time to complete the pilot program.

I have been pleased with the popularity of this pilot program and the evidence of its success. The USDA recently released a report on the pilot program. Within their evaluation they found that it was popular among most students, parents, State representatives, teachers, principals, pilot managers and food service staff. The USDA's evaluation also found that students consumed over 90 percent of servings offered thus far.

No one can dispute the importance of a healthy diet, especially for growing children. Yet, for a number of reasons, many children don't eat enough fruits and vegetables as recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food Guide Pyramid. This pilot also is critically important to help encourage healthy dietary habits among the growing number of children in this country who are overweight or obese. USDA found that nearly 93 percent of participating schools have provided some nutrition education and promotion activities along with the program.

Identifying ways to encourage children to consume a wide variety of healthful foods will be a major focus of the upcoming reauthorization of the National School Lunch Program and other key child nutrition programs. During the reauthorization process, we will look to this pilot program for some answers regarding how we might help increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables in school by making accessible the types of fruits and vegetables that children most enjoy.

Because research has shown that children develop dietary habits early in life, the increased availability of fruits and vegetables in school can make a lasting impression on the life-long consumption patterns of these youths. For that reason, I urge my colleagues to vote to extend this pilot study.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 870, a bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to extend the availability of funds to carry out the fruit and vegetable pilot program.

We hear a great deal about the importance of teaching our children good nutrition as well as about the epidemic of obesity and poor eating habits among American children. This morning's USA Today even had several articles about nutrition and obesity throughout the paper, this is a very important issue and one that is near and dear to my heart and that of my district. However, for all the press, talk and concern, we do far too little about it. THe first year of the Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program is nearing its end, but remaining funds need to be used to extend the program until the end of the 2003-2004 school year so we can get the necessary information as we begin to debate child nutrition reauthorization later this year.

The 2002 Farm Bill authorized funds for a pilot project to test the feasibility of offering free fruits and vegetables to students during the school day. One hundred six schools implemented the project this school year in Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan and the Zuni Tribal Organization in New Mexico. The program sought to determine the best practices for increasing both fresh and dried fruit and fresh vegetable consumption in elementary and secondary schools. Schools reported tremendous successes and the final USDA report on the project concluded that 80 percent of students in participating schools were very interested in the program, and 100 of the schools participating believe that it is feasible to continue the pilot if funding is made available. I feel it is incumbent upon Congress to continue this pilot. Consumption of fruits and vegetables increased, while anecdotal evidence showed a decline in soda sales from vending machines in schools. Making existing funding available for pilot schools to use this upcoming school year will extend the success of the project.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I urge your support for this legislation today, and ask you again to support additional consumption opportunities as we debate child nutrition reauthorization in the upcoming Session. We must do more to encourage their purchase in our schools and to promote their consumption on an individual level.

Mr. Speaker, in the world of athletics, each year our young people get bigger, they get stronger, and they get faster. Unfortunately, many of our young people just get bigger. They consume diets that are very high in fat. Sometimes a serving of fruit equals a serving of Fruit Loops and a serving of vegetables equates to French fries or potato chips.

As has been mentioned previously, 60 percent of Americans currently are overweight, 20 percent are obese, and among our young people the percentages are just about the same. An alarming trend has been that we are starting to see atherosclerosis in elementary school children. These are

fatty deposits in the coronary arteries which lead directly to heart disease. This was unheard of 20 or 30 years ago. Type 2 diabetes is exploding among our young people. And of course this again is related to being overweight. Many children do not exercise. They watch TV and play video games.

Senate 870 authorizes the extension of a valuable school pilot program. The fruit and vegetable pilot program provides fresh fruit and fresh vegetables to a limited number of schools during the current school year. A recent Department of Agriculture study found that normal-weight children consumed significantly more fruits than overweight children. Studies have shown a positive relationship between consuming a balanced healthful diet of protein, fruits and vegetables and children's performance in the classroom and on the playing fields.

I thank my colleagues from the Committee on Education and the Workforce for bringing this small, yet important, piece of legislation to the floor and urge my colleagues to vote to extend this valuable pilot study.