Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) are calling on President Obama to make child nutrition reauthorization a top legislative priority before current programs expire Sept. 30.
In a letter to the president, the two chairmen note that a majority of members in both chambers have signed letters to leadership declaring their support for the legislation (221 of 435 in the House and 53 of 100 in the Senate).
However, "Despite strong support and the popularity of child nutrition programs, our respective chambers continue to face challenges to enacting reauthorization legislation, the biggest of which is time. There are precious few legislative work weeks available between now and September 30. Given these circumstances, your assistance in making this legislation a top priority for your administration and communicating that priority to the leadership in the House and Senate is absolutely critical to ensuring that both chambers are able to send you a full reauthorization this year."
In closing, the two point out that the child nutrition reauthorization "represents one of our best opportunities to enact legislation that enjoys broad bipartisan support…. Through our combined efforts and with a strong push from you, we can maximize the likelihood of Congress passing, and you signing into law, this critically-needed legislation before the programs expire."
The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its child nutrition bill (S 3307) in March with a proposed $4 billion increase over 10 years. As the House committee prepares to mark up its bill Wednesday, Miller has proposed an $8 billion increase over 10 years, although he is still searching for budgetary offsets to cover the higher spending.
