1. What we’re lobbying for. America
is currently facing the issue of childhood obesity, yet school lunches
don’t delver nutritional food to students worldwide. Instead of
offering healthy quality meals school lunches serve food that are
high-fat meat products such as pepperoni pizza, hot dogs, meatloaf, and
cheeseburgers. Many
school meals contain more than half a day’s worth of sodium and
saturated fat. Studies show 39 percent of the children who eat
school-provided lunches are overweight, compared with 24 percent of
those who bring lunches from home. Experts at the Institute of Medicine
and other organizations have recommended that Americans eat more
fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and less saturated fat and sodium.
However, the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act, passed
July 16th 2010, will change high fat and sodium meals into healthy
ones. Not only will the act improve the quality of meals students eat
but it will also put a stop to childhood hunger, and establish
nutrition standards for all school meals. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100503_Lousy_school_lunches_fuel_childhood_obesity.html
3. Main Supporters of Lobbying Idea.George
Miller Chair of the House Education and Labor Committee unveiled his
Child Nutrition bill on Thursday June 10th 2010. The bill proposes that
about $8 billion in additional funding over 10 years for child
nutrition programs, including school breakfast and lunch. The bill sets
strict nutrition standards on items in vending machines and school
lunches. It also requires low-fat milk to be sold and an additional
half a cent per lunch to fund nutrition which might include redesigns
for cafeterias to encourage students to make healthier food choices. It
also provides start-up grants for school breakfast programs and
year-round meal service in some states.http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/food-politics/congressman-proposes-8-b.html
Here is a YouTube video link of George Miller announcing his Child Nutrition bill: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=EdLaborDemocrats
Michelle
Obama is another supporter of the bill. Not only has she initiated the
Let’s Move Campaign, which is a nationwide initiative for kids to make
healthier choices, improve food quality in schools, increase access to
healthy foods, mark food at affordable prices and encourage physical
activity for kids, but she has recently proposed a $1-billion annual
increase for Child Nutrition Act programs. The act covers the payment
of school district meals, summer and after-school food programs, food
served at various day-care facilities for children and adults, and last
but not least the Special Supplemental Nutrition program for Women,
Infants and Children, which provided food to more than 8 million people
in 2007. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/26/nation/na-child-nutrition26http://www.letsmove.gov/learnthefacts.php
Earlier
this year, the first lady visited Bancroft Elementary School to talk to
the students who helped her plant the White House vegetable garden, and
stressed the importance of healthy eating habits. Michelle Obama also
plans to eliminate processed foods and teach children how food effects
their body. In fact, Mrs. Obama said, Malia and Sasha “ate up that
information and they started schooling me and lecturing me about what I
should be eating, and what a carrot does, and what broccoli does.” Mrs.
Obama sees the potential that school lunches can have on shaping a
child’s eating habit. She changes the school districts non-nutritional
lunches by introducing foods kids don’t eat at home. She believes once
students try and accept new, nutritious foods, maybe they’ll ask their
parents to serve those foods at home. “Maybe they’ll spur some changes
in the way their whole family eats.” http://www.schoolfoodpolicy.com/2009/05/30/michelle-obama-school-lunch-should-be-a-lesson/
Just
as the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act, Michelle Obama
is also working with food-industries to reduce the amount of sugar,
fat, sodium, and salt in school lunches. However, increasing the
number of fruits and vegetables in school lunches is a pricey buy.
Fruits and vegetables have increased 50 percent faster than other food
of the last 20 years. Nutrition experts had hoped the presidents
budget would add a dollar a day to the school lunches in order to pay
for higher-quality foods. Unfortunately, the programs only added 20
cents more per lunch. http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-human-condition/2010/02/10/michelle-obama-s-plan-for-healthy-school-lunches-still-faces-funding-hurdles.htmlhttp://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3pressrelease&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Agov3&b=pressrelease&f=100730_School_Nutrition_Signing&csid=Agov3
6. Other Background Information
It
has recently been noted that 20 percent of the food in school
cafeterias comes from the USDA commodities program, which is a food
distributor program. Although the USDA commodities provide food to
schools, 75 percent of the food on their list are beef and chicken.
“Many districts divert fresh commodities to processors, said Margo
Wootan, who is the director of nutrition policy at the center for
Science in Public Interest. (http://www.time.com/time/2004/obesity/speakers/wootan.html) "Too many schools turn chicken into nuggets, or pork into pizza toppings," she said.“In
Philadelphia schools, much of the food comes from a Brooklyn, N.Y.,
distributor, which prepares, packages, and ships frozen meals to
schools to be warmed,” says food services chief Wayne Grasela.
According to Sandy Sherman, director of nutrition education at the
nonprofit Food Trust in Philadelphia, two-thirds of city schools have
no kitchens.http://tdn.com/lifestyles/article_ce17affa-3617-11df-892e-001cc4c03286.html
Although
many schools have a poor meal system there are some striving for
better. Cities around the nation have taken the initiative to refurbish
what and how children eat. New York City for example, devised a farm
school program with the help of state legislation and the department of
agriculture and education. The program offers raw, fresh, local, and
healthy menu items. http://youngphillypolitics.com/time_rethink_school_lunch_programJust
like New York City schools are initiating healthier school meals so is
Philadelphia. West Philadelphia school has a full kitchen where many
meals are prepared practically from scratch. The school gets $5,000 a
year in extra funding from the district to buy fresh produce and even
has its own vegetable garden. http://tdn.com/lifestyles/article_ce17affa-3617-11df-892e-001cc4c03286.html
Health and Medical Associations
While
some schools endeavor to have healthier meals, The American Public
Health Association and the American Medical Association have called for
vegetarian meals to be offered in schools to lower the percentage of
childhood obesity and other health discrepencies. Both associations
agree that familiarizing children with healthy, plant-based foods at an
early age shapes them to have healthy eating habits for life, therefore
decreasing the risk of Type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and
other illnesses. Experts of medicine say, “A child who chooses a
veggie burger instead of a hamburger just two days a week reduces his
or her saturated fat intake by 37 percent. On the other hand, one who
eats a meal of chicken nuggets has to run three miles just to burn off
the calories it contains.” http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100503_Lousy_school_lunches_fuel_childhood_obesity.html
Petition letter: Below is a link to read and sign a petition for healthy lunches. It was started by the Healthy School Lunches. http://www.change.org/healthy_school_lunches/petitions/view/tell_congress_to_provide_vegetarian_and_vegan_meal_options_in_public_schools
Problems with Bill:
Supporters
of the food reform believe much more money will be required to overhaul
unhealthy school meals. In the New York Times, Alice Waters, a famous
American chef, stated, “schools need $5 per lunch per student, almost
twice the $2.68 they receive from the federal government for students
that qualify for a free lunch.” The problem that lies ahead is whether
the House can find the money to pay for the $10 billion dollar bill.
Unlike the Senate, which proposes enough cuts in other programs to pay
for the increase, the House Education and Labor Committee, has found
only $1 billion so far. To pass its version, it will need to persuade
other committees, such as the House Agriculture Committee, to help fund
its proposal. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/food-politics/congressman-proposes-8-b.html
The
following is a link to a discussion, talking about how the Nutrition
Bill might not be as affective one would think. Money for the nutrition
bill should mean students eating healthier foods, yet the bill is in
competition with fast food places right across the street.http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/15/pm-can-a-school-lunch-overhaul-beat-junk-food/
Representative and their District
A
Pennsylvania representative that is in support of healthy school
lunches is democratic member of the House of Representaives, Chakkah
Fattah. Fattah, represents Pennsylvania’s 2nd congressional district,
which includes North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, Montgomery
County, and parts of Northeast Philadelphia and Cheltenham Township.
Pennsylvania’s 2nd congressional district has a large democratic party,
in fact it’s so large that it is the fifth most democratic
congressional district out of 435 others in the nation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania%27s_2nd_congressional_district
Biography
Chaka
Fattah was born in Philadelphia on November 21, 1956. It was during
his youth that his mother and father decided to start a home for
homeless boys and girls. By the tender of age 14, Chaka went to the
bank and got them to provide money for funding the home for homeless
boys and girls. Although already having an influential impact, it
wasn’t until his junior year that Fattah realized his passion for
politics. After receiving a masters degree in government
administration in 1986, Fattah became the youngest man to be elected to
the Pennsylvania Legislature as a Democrat. http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Fattah__Chaka.html
However, before becoming a member of congress, the now positioned
congressman, worked as a serving member of the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives and the Pennsylvania Senate. Before being a member of
the Pennsylvania House of Representative and representing Pennsyvania’s
2nd congressional district, Fattah was the special assistant to the
Office of Housing and Community Development in Philadelphia from the
year 1980-1982. His other careers included being state representative
of Pennsylvania General Assembly from 1982 to 1988 and state senator
from 1988 to 1994. http://www.answers.com/topic/chaka-fattah.
It wasn’t until 1995, when Fattah represented Pennsyvania’s 2nd
congressional district. Being a democrat Fattah endorsed Obamam for
president in 2008 and in 2007 ran for mayor of Philadelphia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaka_Fattah.
During his 12 years of a state lawmaker, six being a state
representative and six being a state senator, Fattah began focusing on
issues such as quality schools and equal opportunities for inner-city
students. In fact, each year Fattah inches his way to making bigger
changes of improvements. http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Fattah__Chaka.html
Policy and Community Interest (How has my legislator voted on my issue in the past?)
One
example of how Fattah is developing plans of action to improve
Philadelphia is that he is currently launching a program called
Growing Together that provides nutritious meals for Philadelphia
schools in poor urban areas. Fattah believes that, “It is important
for young people to be exposed to quality food,” and in order to do so
congress must advocate for nutrition among schools. Fattah does so by
successfully leading the Philadelphia Congressional Delegation to
temporarily stop termination of the city’s highly successful school lunch pilot program.
Fattah also works to include free lunches for student’s of low-income
families into Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act. The
Growing Together program aims to coordinate agriculture and healthy
cooking programs in West Philadelphia. If passed the program will
engage 120 students in after-school and summer activities that will
encourage healthy eating habits of students and improve the health
status among communities. In
order to improve community health, Growing Together supports school
gardens that heightens community food and donations of fresh produce to
the City Harvest Program. Growing Together will support healthy cooking
workshop series led by teen peer food educators at community and
school-based settings across West Philadelphia.http://politicalnews.me/?id=1767&keys=Congressman-Chaka-Fattah-LowIncome
Along with his interest in school lunches, congressman Fattah's also
has focus in policy interests such as education, community and economic
development and last but not least legislative policy. http://fattah.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=59§iontree=6,43,59
Fattah's
top legislative priority is H.R 2130 The Comprehensive Transform
America Transaction Fee Act . The plan calls for the elimination of
federal taxes and then replaces the taxes with a fee on transactions.
This allows for the elimination of federal taxes which therefore
stimulates the economy and increase the number of jobs by allowing
businesses to expand their work offices and hire more employees.http://fattah.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=19§iontree=2,19
Although
Fattah’s main pivot is legislation policy, he is also in support of
health and education by voting yes on a bill that aspired for an
additional 10. 2 billion dollars for federal education and health and
human services. Fattah also voted yes on a bill that wanted $84 million
grants for black and Hispanic colleges and voted yes for a bill that
strived for 40 billion grants for green public schools. http://www.ontheissues.org/PA/Chaka_Fattah_Education.htmAlong
with voting yes on various bills that support improvement of education
systems, Fattah continues to emphasize his education policy by
endeavoring to improve poor communities that suffer from
under-qualified teachers, low- quality facilities and inadequate
assets. http://fattah.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=92§iontree=4,73,80,92Video link focusing on Fattah’s educational value:http://chakafattah.com/
Here is a link of additional legislative and policy achievements. http://fattah.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=18§iontree=2,18
What We Have In Common
We both went to Commuity College of Philadelphia. I had psychology classes there and he attended college there. http://vote-pa.org/Intro.aspx?Id=PAFattahChakaLike me, Fattah was also in support of Barack Obama’s presidential election.Both of us are pro-choice (for abortion) and both of us want to reduce/stop crime, especially anti- gay hate crimes. http://www.ontheissues.org/PA/Chaka_Fattah.htmVideo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm7-fx1o8jA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
1. What is the status of your issue at the legislature? Is this a "good" year?How
many elected officials have indicated support for your issue? Is there
public support behind it, with good media attention? Who are your
opponents, and how much power do they have? Has a policy been written
to address your issue, or do you need to work with an elected official
to write one?
Initiated
by George Miller, The Improving Child’s Nutrition Act ameliorates the
quality of meals students eat, stops childhood hunger, and establishes
nutrition standards for all school meals. The act was passed earlier
this year on July 16th. The Child Nutrition Act has much support and
has inspired others to establish various acts and programs that require
nutritious meals and exercise to reverse childhood obesity. Supporters
such as Michelle Obama initiated the Let’s Move Campaign, which
increases access to healthy foods, marks food at affordable prices and
encourages physical activity for kids. Not only has Michelle Obama
commenced campaigns in support of healthy food, but she has also
brought positive media attention to the issue by lecturing and
educating schools on healthy eating habits. Schools have also been in
support of the Act. Various cities around the nation have taken the
initiative to refurbish what and how children eat. New York City for
example, devised a farm school program that offers raw, fresh, and
healthy menu items. Although the bill has much support there are many
opponents. Representative Jim McGovern and many other democrats are
against a bill that has a plan to cut funds for food stamps to give
more funding to school lunches. The senate already cut food stamp funds
by 13.6%, $26 billion to aid education and medicaid costs in states.
Other opponents include Labor unions and anti-poverty groups who are
also against cutting food stamp funds. Many opposing democrats have
the power to veto the bill, just as they did in August 2009 when 100
House Democrats called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not to bring the
Senate bill to the floor. Actions such as this prevent bills from
getting passed and put a halt to improving child nutrition. Although
the bill brings up much concern on the subject of food stamps
supporting House leaders and President Barack Obama worked on dealing
with those concerns, eventually leading to the legislation of the
Improving Child Nutrition Act. However other act and bills that branch
of from the Child Nutrition Act might not be as lucky, such as the
School Meal Enhancement Act proposed by Joe Sestak. The act strives for
nutritious schools meals, however democrats argue yet again that the
act cuts to much into food stamps. In order to get the act passed good
media and representation on the act must be presented. Just as Barack
Obama and other House leaders defended and supported the Improving
Child’s Nutrition Act so must others in support of Joe Sestak’s act for
the state of Pennsylvania. Another solution is to adjust the cuts in
food stamps in order to please the main opposers, democrats. Support the Healthy School Meal Act at http://www.healthyschoollunches.org/wyntergrace/
Links:http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100503_Lousy_school_lunches_fuel_childhood_obesity.htmlhttp://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/26/nation/na-child-nutrition26http://www.letsmove.gov/learnthefacts.phphttp://www.takepart.com/news/2010/09/30/healthy-school-lunch-bill-stalled-in-congresshttp://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdFHgkFxcfncSOerE5uz7Bk8fqCgD9II0ML80?docId=D9II0ML80http://thehill.com/homenews/house/114271-dems-consider-more-food-stamp-cuts-to-fund-child-nutrition-billhttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/food-politics/congressman-proposes-8-b.htmlhttp://www.congress.org/news/2010/11/12/advocates_push_child_nutrition_billhttp://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2690
5. What is the time frame?
So
far the School Meal Enhancement Act has been introduced, referred to
committee, reported by committee, and has been presented to the House
of Representatives who earlier on proposed voting on a Senate-passed
version of the child nutrition bill. However, 106 House Democrats addressed
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and said they were no longer in support of the
Senate version. Instead they called for their own House bill, which
does not contain the food stamp cuts. Further debate and discussion on
the bill will not take place until winter 2010. Links:http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2690http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/09/30/healthy-school-lunch-bill-stalled-in-congress
6. When are key dates - meetings, committee hearings, deadlines, etc.Bill was introduced and Refereed to House of Commitee on Education and Labor - June 3rd 2009House of Commitee on Education and Labor voted for Bill. Passed on a vote of 32-13 - July 15 2010
http://www.votetocracy.com/house_bills/hr2690-school-meal-enhancement-act-of-2009-18816.html
Links:http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2690http://sestak.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1102:congressman-sestaks-legislation-to-improve-school-lunch-access-and-safety-passes-committee-&catid=13:2010-press-releases
