Weekends Without Hunger Act

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5012, the Weekends Without Hunger Act. I want to personally and forcefully thank Congresswoman Dina Titus for introducing this important piece of legislation.

Congresswoman Titus and I share southern Nevada as our adjoining congressional districts. Let me tell you what's happening there. We have a serious economic problem. Almost 20 percent of the people I represent have no work. That translates and transfers down to their children, who are having very serious times, as are their parents.

For so many children in the Clark County School District, the only meals they are getting, the only hot meals they are getting, the only meals and nutrition of any kind, are the ones they are receiving in school. So, many of the schools in Clark County are now not only serving a lunch to their schoolchildren, they are also serving breakfast as well. So many of our youngsters are showing up at school with an empty stomach because they have nothing to eat at home. Try learning when you're 5, 6, 7, 8 years old, when your tummy is grumbling as you sit in your class. It's not possible to do.

I attended a school, Whitney Elementary School, and went into one of the trailers that the principal escorted me to. It was filled with food. And I commented, Why is there so much food in this trailer? And she told me 70 percent--let me say that again--70 percent of the children in this elementary school are homeless. They are living on the streets with their parents. They are living in cars. They do not have a stable home. If they don't have a stable home, I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that they haven't got anything to eat.

This program, this pilot program that Congresswoman Dina Titus has introduced, would provide a 5-year pilot that would provide commodities to eligible institutions, such as schools and food banks, to carry out projects

that provide nutritious food to at-risk schoolchildren over the weekend and school holidays.

It is incomprehensible to me that in a country of such wealth and great abundance that we have literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children going to bed hungry and having to depend on their schools in order to get anything to eat. This school backpack program that provides children with food to take home over the weekend is going to be the difference between their survival and not. I cannot tell you how much I admire Dina Titus for introducing this. I wish I'd thought of it myself.

Let us pass this bill, and let's pass it fast.

I rise today in support of H.R. 5012, the Weekends Without Hunger Act. I want to thank Congresswoman Titus for introducing this important piece of legislation.

Across the country, almost one out of every four children is at risk of going hungry. Many of these children depend on school meals as their main source of food throughout the week. While school meals help provide low-income children with nourishing meals when school is in session, there is currently no targeted federal child nutrition program available to provide these children with food during the weekend or extended holidays when they do not have access to school meals.

In my home State of Nevada, Three Square Food Bank has been addressing weekend hunger since 2008 with its Backpacks for Kids program. The program provides a bag of kid-friendly, shelf-stable foods to children who lack adequate food over the weekend. Every week during the 2009-10 school-year, Three Square provided weekend bags to more than 4,800 at-risk children in 187 Clark County schools, both public and private.

Congresswoman Titus' bill builds on the important work that food banks and others are doing across the country. This legislation would establish a five-year pilot program that would provide commodities to eligible institutions, such as schools and food banks, to carry out projects that provide nutritious food to at-risk school children over the weekend and school holidays during the school year.

It is vital that Congress continue to make investments to increase low-income children's access to nutrition programs, especially during weekends and summers.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5012) to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch to establish a weekend and holiday feeding program to provide nutritious food to at-risk school children on weekends and during extended school holidays during the school year, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H.R. 5012 into the Record.

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5012, the Weekends Without Hunger Act, legislation to help us prevent school-aged children from having to go hungry during weekends and breaks when they are not in school.

The Weekends Without Hunger Act helps prevent children from going hungry when they are not in school. The bill responds to the growing challenge of children coming to school hungry on Mondays and after extended holidays. It establishes a 5-year pilot program to provide commodities to schools and food banks in low-income areas, to provide nutritious food to at-risk school children to take home on weekends and during school holidays.

Nearly one in four of our Nation's children are at risk of going hungry every day. No child should go hungry, yet millions of families struggle to make ends meet and put healthy food on the table at home.

More than 19 million school-age children eat a free or reduced-price meal at school every day and many of them depend on the school meals as their main source of food throughout the week. During days that school is in session, school breakfasts and lunches help keep children healthy and prepared to learn in the classroom. Children who experience hunger get sick more often and exhibit decreased attention and test scores.

Even with the child nutrition safety net already in place, there is still a significant gap in children's access to nutrition during weekends and breaks from school. For many children, this gap means going without nutritious meals--or any meals at all over the weekend and when school is out.

The organization Feeding America has been at the forefront of public- private partnerships to ensure children and families have access to healthy meals. Their BackPack Program is one in a number of innovative programs they operate to meet the needs of families who experience hunger.

This program provides backpacks filled with nutritious food that is child friendly, nonperishable and easily consumed. These backpacks are discreetly distributed to children on the last day before the weekend or holiday vacation. Currently, more than 3,800 BackPack Programs serve nearly 190,000 children in 46 States and the District of Columbia.

The BackPack Program has been very successful and in much demand. Many programs have begun waiting lists because they are unable to fulfill every request for service.

Earlier this year, the Committee on Education and Labor reported the bipartisan bill improving nutrition for America's Children Act, H.R. 5504, to the House by a vote of 32-13. The Weekends Without Hunger provision was included in this bill.

Last week, the House approved S. 3307, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, to reauthorize and improve the child nutrition programs to increase children's access to these critical programs and to improve nutrition quality. While we were unable to include H.R. 5012 in that bill, the committee strongly believes this initiative deserves consideration and supplements what was included in the Healthy, Hunger- Free Kids Act.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Representative Titus for her leadership in bringing this bill to the floor and once again express my support for H.R. 5012, the Weekends Without Hunger Act.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Titus).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley).

I yield the gentlewoman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Speaker, I ask for support on H.R. 5012, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I rise today in support of H.R. 5012, the Weekends Without Hunger Act.

Last week the House passed a child nutrition bill that takes important steps towards keeping our children healthy and hunger free while in school. This is a goal I strongly support, and that's why I introduced the legislation called Weekends Without Hunger Act, which would help children not be hungry whether or not they are in school.

Across the country, almost one out of every four children is at risk of going hungry. In southern Nevada, over 50 percent of children rely on the free and reduced lunch program. That means that more than 156,000 students are facing hunger at home and many depend on school meals as their main source of food and nutrition throughout the week.

While school meals help keep children healthy and ready to learn during days when school is in session, there is currently no targeted federal child nutrition program available to provide these children with food during the weekend or extended holidays when they do not have access to those school meals.

Especially at this time of year when most of us are having holiday meals with our families and friends, it's important to remember so many children are not enjoying their school vacation because they are going hungry. A vacation from school should not mean hunger for our children.

Food banks around the country, including ThreeSquare food bank in Las Vegas, has stepped up to meet the challenge of hunger on weekends through programs such as Backpack for Kids. In Clark County, Backpack for Kids operates in 178 schools, assembling and delivering approximately 5,200 weekend backpacks each week filled with nutritional, nonperishable foods to provide meals for children in need.

I believe that at the Federal level, we can and should be doing more to support vital programs like Backpack for Kids. That's why I introduced Weekends Without Hunger, which will help children and keep them from going hungry when they are not in school over the weekends and during holidays.

In this tough economic climate, food banks across the country are seeing an increased need for their services. That's especially true in areas hardest hit by unemployment.

While these organizations are doing great work, passing H.R. 5012 would build on their efforts and help them do even better. It would be a great partnership.

H.R. 5012 would establish a 5-year pilot program to provide commodities to eligible institutions such as schools and food banks to provide nutritious food to at-risk school children over the weekend and during school holidays. For example, $10 million would be enough funding for approximately 3 million weekend food backpacks. To ensure that the Federal funds are well spent, the bill also requires an interim and final evaluation of the program by the Secretary of Agriculture.

I urge you all to support H.R. 5012, Weekends Without Hunger. As this Congress moves to give tax breaks to millionaires, I implore you not to forget the children. It is a disgrace that in a country this great and this wealthy that any child should go home and go to bed hungry. So I ask you to vote for this bill, or else go look a hungry child in the eye and tell him or her, You're just not valuable enough to save.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my fellow members of Congress to vote for H.R. 5012, the Weekends Without Hunger Act, and support the millions of children facing food insecurity. The bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture to implement a five-year pilot program to provide food commodities to nonprofits, which would, in turn, distribute those goods to children in need before weekends and extended holidays. In short, this program ensures that children do not go hungry when they are not in school.

This pilot program is modeled from the successful Food for Kids program developed by the nonprofit Arkansas Rice Depot. The concept for the program originated when a school nurse asked for help because she began seeing hungry students with stomachaches and dizziness. The local food bank began to send school children home with groceries in non- descript backpacks. In 2009, more than 140 Feeding America member food banks operated more than 3,600 BackPack for Kids Programs and served more than 190,000 children.

In my hometown, the Cleveland Foodbank adopted the program, BackPack for Kids, in 2005. Each week, food bank volunteers pack six wholesome, child friendly meals per student into plastic bags, and then cases are delivered to partner sites. The Foodbank protects kids' confidentiality by packaging the food in unmarked, non-descript backpacks. This approach is having a profound effect. In 2009, the Cleveland Foodbank distributed 45,666 backpacks to many of the 3,036 homeless children who live in Ohio's Eleventh Congressional District as well as other children whose families are in tough financial times. The Cleveland Foodbank is touching thousands of families and impacting the educational success of thousands of children in Northeast Ohio through the BackPack for Kids program. It is doing phenomenal work.

Imagine how many more children could be served through this commodity program. I implore the House to pass the Weekends Without Hunger Act because kids in need are guilty of nothing more than being born to low- income parents for which they should not be punished. In Cuyahoga County, 32 percent of children rely on food stamps to eat. Allowing any of these kids in my district to go hungry is simply unacceptable. The fact is they face a particularly high risk of hunger when they are not being fed through existing school programs. This bill presents a unique opportunity to help the neediest of children by giving them the security of knowing where their next meal will come from, a sentiment so basic that many of us take it for granted.

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

I rise today in opposition to H.R. 5012. To refresh my colleagues' memories, just last week the House sent the reauthorization of child nutrition and school meal programs to the President for his signature. That bill spent an additional $4.5 billion and added more than a dozen new programs. It was a significant expansion of Federal child nutrition programs at a time when the American people have told us to stop growing government and, instead, to make current programs better rather than simply layering on new programs.

Every Member of this Chamber wants to fight childhood hunger and promote healthy school meals, but adding one more program in a long line of new programs is not the way to do that. We could have debated this bill, along with several other proposals, during floor consideration of child nutrition legislation last week, if only this majority did not insist on stifling debate with closed rules.

Unfortunately, just like the responsible Republican alternative, this program was not considered at the time it should have been during that debate. Instead, we are here today debating whether to add yet another program to the ever-expanding Federal Government under this majority. This is another new program to add to the list of new programs created just last week.

The Federal Government supports numerous programs to feed children in school, after school and during the summer. If the majority did not see fit to include this new program when it reauthorized child nutrition programs last week, I do not see how we can justify its creation today and urge my colleagues to oppose this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.