Dem bill would expand school lunch program to weekends, holidays

Her bill, H.R. 1395, is co-sponsored by Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.).

The bill is the latest entry to the list of legislation meant to tweak the national school lunch program. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), for example, has proposed the Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention America Act, S. 39, which would broaden the federal nutrition program, including by expanding it to childcare centers.

{mosads}Other proposals have been made by members looking to limit school lunch guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last year, the USDA proposed calorie caps on school lunches, along with caps on grains and proteins that children can eat in meals served by schools.

The agency has since waived the cap on grains and proteins for two years. But last week, Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) proposed the Sensible School Lunch Act, which would permanently eliminate those caps.

Crawford’s bill, H.R. 1244, keeps in place the calorie caps that the USDA recommended. But Crawford says that repealing the grains and protein caps would give schools the flexibility to feed children properly.

“USDA’s new school nutrition regulations are not working and are leaving students hungry,” Crawford said last week. “In October, I hosted a Nutrition Summit in my district where I listened to school administrators, parents, nutritionists and teachers tell me how the nutrition guidelines are affecting their students.”

Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) have proposed the Sensible School Lunch Act in the Senate.

Also last week, Reps. Fudge and Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) and proposed the bipartisan School Nutrition Flexibility Act, which also removes the protein and grain limit in school meals.

That bill, H.R. 1303, also lets local school authorities set prices for school meals. That would counteract the USDA’s rule that set school lunch prices for the first time since 1946.

Last year, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) proposed the No Hungry Kids Act, which would repeal the department’s calorie caps on meals served by schools.