School lunch bill handed to Bush

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http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/06...eut/index.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- About 50,000 poor children would receive free school meals under a child nutrition bill passed by the House and sent to President Bush for enactment.

The child nutrition bill, passed Thursday, extends for five years the school lunch program, the Women, Infants and Children program and a bundle of other programs that jointly cost about $16 billion a year.

The Senate passed the legislation Wednesday. Bush is expected to sign the bill into law, according to legislative aides.

Under the bill, children would automatically qualify for free meals if their families receive food stamps. This move was estimated to add 50,000 children to school lunch lines.

Other changes reduce the amount of paperwork that parents must file so their children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The changes will mean "many tens of thousands of children" will receive school meals, said Jim Weill, head of the lobbying group Food Research and Action Center.

Lawmakers and anti-hunger groups hailed the rare moment of bipartisan agreement during a congressional session filled with acrimony.

"Here, we have made major improvements," said Rep. George Miller, California Democrat.

The federal school lunch program provides hot meals to about 27 million American children every day. Nearly 60 percent of the children get the meals for free or at a reduced price. Eleven million children are enrolled in school breakfast, after school snack and summer meal programs.

FACT BOX
The federal school lunch program provides hot meals to about 27 million American children.

More than 7.6 million people are enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides supplemental food to poor pregnant women, new mothers and infants.

The bill would also renew two popular pilot programs. One eases bookkeeping rules for summer food programs. The other provides free fruits and vegetables to schoolchildren to encourage them to adopt healthier eating habits.

The summer food pilot program operates in 13 states and would expand to Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio and Oregon in 2005. The fruit and vegetable pilot, now in four states and the Zuni Pueblo, would expand to three additional states and two Indian reservations in 2004-2005 school year.