Billion we spent on diabetes for just one year. So, with that, i will add the rest of my comments to the record, but i would just say, mr. Scott and mr. Speaker, hool breakfasts and lunch, w. I. C. Its a doggone good deal when you think about it. Mr. Scott thank you, and youre absolutely right. I want to yield now to one of our strongest advocates for ending hundred hunger in america, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Mcgovern. Mr. Mcgovern thank you very much. I want to thank my colleague from virginia, mr. Scott, for organizing this today and for his leadership on child nutrition programs. I want to thank my colleagues for being here. This is an important issue. Theres no question about that. But we are here because we are outraged. Were outraged at republican attempts to undermine our child nutrition programs. Were outraged at their lousy child reauthorization bill. It is a terrible, terrible, terrible bill. My friend should be ashamed of this bill. Mr. Speaker, a nutritious school meal is just as important to a childs success in school as a textbook. Hungry children cant concentrate. They cant focus on their studies. In short, hungry children cant learn. That is a fact. Everybody knows that. And yet we have a bill that my republican friends have drafted that will increase hunger. That will actually take food out of the mouths of children. It is outrageous. Together, our child nutrition programs, w. I. C. , School Breakfast and lunch, the Summer Food Service program, and the child and adult care food program, provide nutritional support for children year round in places where they live, learn, and play. Unfortunately, h. R. 5003, which is the republican reauthorization bill, includes a number of harmful provisions that would roll back years of progress and hamper the ability of children to access healthy meals. As i said, to be very blunt, it makes hunger worse in this country. Specifically the bill would undermine the Successful Community eligibility provision which some of my colleagues have talked about. First included in the last reauthorization bill that has allowed High Poverty School districts to offer Universal School meals to all students. In its first two years, c. E. P. Helped more than 8. 5 million low income students access free meals. Instead of building on the success of this program, my republican friends would restrict School Eligibility for the Community Eligibility option. The center for Budget Priorities estimates that 7,0 2 schools currently using Community Eligibility would lose it under this republican bill. And another 11,647 schools that qualify for Community Eligibility but who have not yet adopted it would be prevented from doing so in the future. As we approach the summer months its important to remember that child hunger gets worse in the summer. Consider this. For every six children who get a lunch at sool each day, only one receives a meal in the summertime. Instead of being a carefree time for chern who depend on getting healthy, reliable meals in the school year, the summer months can be a time of stress and anxiety and hunger. But it doesnt have to be this way. Unfortunately this republican bill cuts the successful summer e. B. T. Pilot program which provides a temporary boost in assistance programs in summer months for families whose children receive Free School Meals in the school year. It fails to make necessary investments to expand the reach of summer programs so more kids have access to healthy summer meals in their neighborhoods. In addition, bill rolls back, as my colleagues mentioned, evidencebased standards that make school meals healthier. Usda estimates that more than 90 of schools have successfully , have successfully implemented these standards. My grandmother used to say to me when i was growing up, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I wished she were alive so i could tell her she was right. Food is medicine. When we eat good food, nutritious food, we tend to have healthy lives. If you eat bad food, junk food, you end up getting Health Issues like diabetes. Like high blood pressure. Like obesity. And i can go on and on and on. Why in the world would anybody want to lower the nutrition standards in our school meals to give our kids junkier, less nutrition foods. What sense does that make . And my colleagues advocating these reversals of smart policy are doing so only because they want to save a few dollars, let me tell you something, youre saving nothing. If we dont get this right if we dont make insist that our kids have access to nutritious, healthier food, the medical costs associated with the Health Challenges theyll experience are astronomical. As my colleague from wisconsin mentioned earlier, hundreds of billions of dollars in Avoidable Health care costs as a result of children not having access to good food. Congress should be focused on ways to address these problems. It is hard for me to understand why we have to be here today. Why everything is a fight when it comes to dealing with issues of hunger, when it comes to dealing with issues of making sure our kids get access to good nutrition. It is always a fight. Its always a fight to protect so many vital food and nutrition programs that help our kids. Theres either a shocking ignorance about the reality of the poverty that millions of our children face in this country, or there is simply indifference. Those are the only two ways i can explain what is going on in his chamber. Whichever one it is, its a sad excuse for what my republican friends are trying to do. Lets come together. This should be a bipartisan issue. There was a time when fighting hunger, making sure our kids had access to nutritious foods was a bipartisan issue. George mcgovern and bob dole worked together in the 1970s to strengthen our food and nutrition programs. But now, in this chamber, these issues have become controversial. And it is sad because there are a lot of people in this country depending on us to find ways to end hunger in america. Theyre depending on us to make surer that kids, when they go to school, have access to nutritious food. And that they have access to nutritious food during the summer months as well. Why are my friends making it so difficult . Enough of this. Stop beating up on the most Vulnerable People in this country. Lets come together, lets reject this awful draft of the child nutrition reauthorization bill. Lets come together and do this right. Its the least we can do. With that, i yield back my time. Mr. Scott thank you. Thank you for all your advocacy on ending hungerer. Hunger. Thank you very much. I now yield to the gentleman from kale, mr. Takano. From california, mr. Takano. Mr. Takano thank you, mr. Speaker. I appreciate the time allotted. In my 24 years as a public schoolteacher i learned a lot about helping students reach their potential. I learned about project based learning and stem education. I learned about the importance of arts and music in keeping tudents engaged and excited. But i also learned theres no lesson plan or study guide that can improve a students erformance if they are hungry. Good nutrition is the foundation to a good education. With that experience in mind, i rise to express my frustration and sadness with republicans, the republican proposal for reauthorizing the socalled improving child nutrition and education act. The draft bill published last week includes several provisions that would restrict students access to nutritious food, particularly children in americas poorest neighborhoods. The proposal undermines nutritional standards for schools despite those standards receiving overwhelming support from pediatricians and Public Health officials. It weakens a Popular Program designed to give poor students access to fresh fruits and vegetables in communities where they are scarce. And it increases the burden on poor families to prove that their children are eligible for lunch programs. But the impact of these provisions is mild compared to what republicans are proposing to do with c. E. P. Or the Community Eligibility provision. C. E. P. Streamlines national School Breakfast and lunch programs by automatically enrolling students who live in areas with high rates of poverty. It was passed with bipartisan support just six years ago and it is responsible for feeding more than three Million Students every year. Now republicans are seeking to change the c. E. P. Formula to kick many poorer communities out of the program. Their goal is to save money by allowing fewer students to enroll in breakfast and lunch programs. Not only is this bad policy that will hurt student performance in low income schools, it is cruel. In my district alone it this would affect more than 6,000 students. Nationwide it will severely damage a program that is critical to both fighting Child Poverty and closing the chievement gap in education. Theres a troubling asymmetry to conservatives approach to spending. When it comes to tax cuts for Large Businesses that cost this country billions of dollars, conservatives are generous with taxpayer money. But when it comes to hungry students in americas poorest communities, thats when its ime to cut back. Thats when its time to be stingy. Thats when they turn their backs on people in need. Earlier this week, speaker ryan said that conservatism is just a happy way of life. This brand of conservatism is not a happy way of life for thousands of hungry children who will lose access to food at school. It is not a happy life for the parents of those children who are struggling every day to provide for them. And it is not a happy life for the generation of students who do not have the foundation to reach their potential. Who could be happy when so Many Americans are suffering . Hank you and i yield back. Mr. Scott thank you, mr. Takano, thank you for your leadership on the committee. Mr. Speaker, i now yield to the leader of the democratic whips task force on income inequality and opportunity, the gentlelady from california, ms. Lee. Ms. Lee thank you very much. Let me thank the Ranking Member for yielding and also for your longterm and longstanding commitment to these programs. I have to say, im not happy at all. I dont think many of us are happy at what is taking place with regard to this improving child Nutrition Education act and what is happening to our children who many go to bed hungry at night so thank you very much for your leadership. And let me just say to mr. Scott who is our Ranking Member, it is very important that we recognize your leadership and know youre on this Committee Fighting each and every day to make sure that this reauthorization bill, which would take food out of the mouths of american schoolchildren, does not do that. So thank you for your fight on the committee. Let me say just a couple of things with regard to h. R. 5003. It would turn the clock back on years of progress and prevent children from eating healthy meals every day. This republican child nutrition bill would roll back critical evidencebased nutrition standards made in the 2010 reauthorization bill, which we were very actively involved with. Sadly but unsurprisingly it would also deny eligible children access to the free or reduced type School Meals Program and it would slash funding for some electronic benefits transferring. I have so say, as a young, single mother on peculiar assistance and food stamps, i dont know what i would have done had my children not had school lunches. This was a bridge over troubled waters for me and my children. I have to thank my government for that helping hand. But today, in 2016, this bill will roll back these programs which means more hungry kids in our schools and in our neighborhoods. Thats why several of us are sending a letter to the education and Work Force Committee outlining our deep concerns with the changes to our child nutrition program. I hope that everyone on our side of the aisle sign this is important letter and i hope that the majority will read it carefully. It lays out some of the basic problems in this bill and we want to make sure that everyone on the committee and this entire body understands the impact of what this will cause. When we take away access to these meals we jeopardize cherns health, Educational Attainment and really their future. We know that children who have access to healthy meals are more likely to do well in school, have decreased behavioral problems and come to class ready to learn. More than 15. 3 million children are living in food insecure households. More than 15 million kids are at risk of going to bed hungry every night in america. Children are food insecure. For children in rural communities, Food Insecurity is coupled with other barriers like lack of access to transportation to get the sumer to summer feeding sites, more than 17 of rural households, 3. 3 million ouseholds are food insecure. Its a problem that affects every child in every zip code. Its endemocrat nick our country, in rural, urban and suburban schools. Every member of congress has constituents who are hungry, really, this should be a priority for all of us. Ive seen the impact of Food Insecurity in my own community in oakland, california, where one in four children at the Oakland Unified School district they do not have access to affordable, nutritious food. And cut poverty in half. That is more than 23. 5 million and into the middle class into the next 10 years. This bill we are talking about goes the opposite way and ensuring healthy meals, that is the first step. It should not be a partisan issue. Feeding hungry kids that is a moral imperative. Lets strengthen our programs. Our children deserve the security of knowing where their next meal is coming from. Thank you, congressman scott for yielding. Mr. Scott thank you for your hard work on the task force. Mr. Speaker, i now yield to a member who has been fighting for children as a member of the state legislature and members of the gentleman from california. Car card thank you, congressman scott. And its a tireless battle and once again today, we are trying to make people aware of the disingenuous misguided efforts in this bill. The to express in improving child improving act. American ,000 and holds were at risk American Children. We should make every effort ssible to make american to development and access. And the provisions are doing the opposite by tampering with programs that have been working well, such as the Community Eligibility provision the the meals can be served to American Children in schools. This the provisions in this bill will cause too many American Children, lowincome children to lose access to these programs. The provision allows high poverty zrits to offer it to all students. This bill raises bureaucratic red tape and more lowincome American Children going hungry every single day. Why add paperwork on School Districts and each and every family in them. Congress should focus on improving and expanding direct certification and approach that has been shown to improve program integrity. And eligibility families who arent accessing the benefits of the results of these programs because of the lack of awareness. And we have made the intake of American Children. It would allow junk food to be snack. Ptable must do more attack undernoushishment than otherwise we are robbing them of the opportunity to reach their full potential. Once again, i want to thank my colleague from the great state of virginia for all the wonderful work you have been doing and for being so tireless in your effort to make sure the voices are heard not only in the Education Committee but beyond. Thank you for bringing this to the floor and i yield back. Mr. Scott reauthorization is is an opportunity to improve legislation. The republican bill reduces programs. Off the we should be expanding the child nutrition and School Lunch Programs and i thank my colleagues. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Under the speakers announced policy of january 6, 2015, the chair recognizes the gentleman fortenberry, mr. Up to 0 minutes. Mr. Fortenberry thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, upon visiting some of our wounded troops at walter reed hospital, i entered a rehab area hat was full of an and it was a place of tough love. Men and women struggling with pain and learning new skills, which struck me the most with this suffering is the desire and will to keep working, to get great d maintain and adverse it. Mr. Speaker, i had the privilege of speaking with one officer. E lost an arm and an eye and throwing a ball with his attendant and normally for us this is a simple task. But this was necessary to retrain his brain. He had loss the dominant eye and dominant arm. In spite of the many scars he had on his face, he had a great attitude. O bitterness, no anger, no resentment. He believed in his duty. He was impressive and jupt lifting and to be great near him was a great thing to to overcome their wounds. Mr. Speaker, keeping you safe depend on the men and women who are willing to put themselves on the front line. They remain the strongest country. Unfortunately, i cannot that the world is more stable or more secure. I had logical islamic is of ading and and the face of barbaricon slaut war attrition, europe is contending refugee crisis d they are ill equipped to understand their plight. And the great cultural stren