Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today applauded the passage of legislation that works to end childhood hunger and addresses the childhood obesity epidemic in this country.

The Senate today approved the "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010", a bipartisan bill that invests $4.5 billion over ten years in new child nutrition programs – including additional funds to help more than 700 schools in New Mexico purchase more nutritious meals.

"More than 100,000 families in New Mexico are not sure where there next meal will come from and more than 220,000 children in New Mexico rely on meals served at school for their nourishment. It makes sense to ensure that they have access to healthy, nutritious food," Bingaman said.  "This bill is an important investment in the country's most vulnerable citizens by improving nutrition standards in schools and helping educate kids about the importance of eating right."

The bill reauthorizes child nutrition and women, infant, and children (WIC) programs, which are scheduled to expire on September 30, 2010.  It also makes changes to current law to make it easier to automatically enroll eligible low-income children in National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, by 2015, approximately 115,000 additional students will be certified for free school meals through this provision.

The bill also does the following:

• Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish science-base nutrition standards for foods sold at schools;
• Expands afterschool meal programs for at-risk children nationwide;
• Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to create a program to recognize exemplary breastfeeding support practices;
• Improves nutrition in adult-care programs; and
• Provides grants up to $100,000 for schools to expand use of local foods, establish school gardens, or develop nutrition education programs.

The House of Representatives is writing their own version of the bill.