Policies and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (June 23, 2022)
Summary
Printed record of a June 23, 2022 hearing of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services of the Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives, on the policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service, Serial No. 117-49. Hon. Suzanne Bonamici, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee, presided, and Ranking Member Fulcher also gave an opening statement. The sole witness is Cindy Long, Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service, who also answered questions for the record. In closing, the chairwoman says she looks forward to helping pass the Keep Kids Fed Act and calls for a comprehensive reauthorization of child nutrition programs. The hearing adjourned at 11:34 a.m.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
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“Policies and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (June 23, 2022).”
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[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
EXAMINING THE POLICIES AND PRIORITIES
OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE'S
FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE
=======================================================================
HEARING
Before The
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND
HUMAN SERVICES
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, JUNE 23, 2022
__________
Serial No. 117-49
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Workforce
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: edworkforce.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
58-091 PDF WASHINGTON : 2025
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, JOE WILSON, South Carolina
Northern Marina Islands GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA WILSON, Florida TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK DeSAULNIER, California JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
LUCY McBATH, Georgia BURGESS OWENS, Utah
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut BOB GOOD, Virginia
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan, Vice Chairman LISA McCLAIN, Michigan
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan MARY MILLER, Illinios
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
MONDAIRE JONES, New York SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
KATHY MANNING, North Carolina MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana MICHELLE STEEL, California
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York CHRIS JACOBS, New York
SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK, Florida VACANCY
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin VACANCY
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN SERVICES
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon, Chairwoman
ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut Ranking Member
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana LISA McCLAIN, Michigan
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisonsin
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina (Ex
(Ex Officio) Officio)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on June 23, 2022.................................... 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Bonamici, Hon. Suzanne, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Civil
Rights and Human Services.................................. 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 4
Fulcher, Hon. Russ, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Civil
Rights and Human Services.................................. 5
Prepared statement of.................................... 7
WITNESSES
Long, Cindy, Administrator, U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Food and Nutrition Service................................. 8
Prepared statement of.................................... 10
QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD
Responses to questions submitted for the record by:
Ms. Cindy Long........................................... 31
EXAMINING THE POLICIES AND PRIORITIES
OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE'S FOOD AND
NUTRITION SERVICE
----------
Thursday, June 23, 2022
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services,
Committee on Education and Labor,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m.,
2175 Rayburn Building, Hon. Suzanne Bonamici (Chairwoman of the
Subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Bonamici, Adams, Hayes, Leger
Fernandez, Scott (Ex Officio), Fulcher, Thompson, Fitzgerald,
and Foxx (Ex Officio).
Also present: Representative Omar.
Staff present: Joe Angert, Intern; Brittany Alston, Staff
Assistant; Jessica Bowen, Professional Staff; Nekea Brown,
Director of Operations; Ilana Brunner, General Counsel; Nicole
Franco, Intern; Rasheedah Hasan, Chief Clerk; Sheila Havenner,
Director of Information; Jayme Holliday, Professional Staff
Technology; Eli Hovland, Policy Associate; Carrie Hughes,
Director of Health and Human Services; Yameen Ibrahim, Intern;
Khari Jenkins, Intern; Camille Keene, Press Intern; Stephanie
Lalle, Communications Director; Andre Lindsay, Professional
Staff; Kota Mizutani, Deputy Communications Director; Max
Moore, Policy Associate; Niaomi MoShier, Press Intern; Isabella
Paz, CHCI Fellow; Kayla Pennebecker, Staff Assistant; Veronique
Pluviose, Staff Director; Jessica Schieder, Economic Policy
Advisor; Dhrtvan Sherman, Staff Assistant; Bob Shull, Senior
Labor Policy Counsel; Michele Simensky, Oversight Counsel-Labor
& Health; Sam Varie, Press Secretary; Banyon Vassar, Deputy
Director of Information Technology; Detario Yancey, Intern;
ArRone Washington, Clerk/Special Assistant to the Staff
Director; Tanisha Wilburn, Director of Labor Oversight &
Counsel; Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director; Cate Dillon,
Minority Director of Operations; Mini Ganesh, Minority Staff
Assistant; Hannah Matesic, Minority Director of Operations;
Audra McGeorge, Minority Communications Director; Eli Mitchell,
Minority Legislative Assistant; Ethan Pann, Minority Press
Assistant; Krystina Skurk, Minority Speechwriter; and Mandy
Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Director of
Education Policy.
Chairman Bonamici. The Subcommittee on Civil Rights and
Human Services will come to order. Welcome everyone. I note
that a quorum is present. I note for the Subcommittee that Ms.
Omar of Minnesota is permitted to participate in today's
hearing, with the understanding that her questions will come
only after all members of the Civil Rights and Human Services
Subcommittee on both sides of the aisle who are present, have
had an opportunity to question the witness.
The Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on
examining the policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. This is a hybrid
hearing pursuant to House Resolution 8 and the regulations
thereto. All microphones, both in the room and on the platform,
will be kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary
background noise. Members and the witness will be responsible
for unmuting themselves when they are recognized to speak, or
when they wish to seek recognition.
When members wish to speak or seek recognition, they should
unmute themselves and allow a pause of 2 seconds to ensure the
microphone picks up their speech. I also ask that members
please identify themselves before they speak. Members who are
participating in person should not be logged onto the remote
platform, to avoid feedback, echoes, and distortion. Members
participating remotely shall be considered present in the
proceeding when they are visible on camera, and they shall be
considered not present when they are not visible on camera.
The only exception to this is if they are experiencing
technical difficulty and inform the Committee of such
difficulty. If any member experiences technical difficulty
during the hearing, you should stay connected on the platform,
make sure you are muted, and use your phone to immediately call
the Committee's IT director whose number was provided in
advance. Should the Chair need to step away for any reason,
Representative Adams or another majority member is hereby
authorized to assume the gavel in the Chair's absence.
To adhere to the Committee's 5-minute rule, staff will be
keeping track of time using the committee's digital timer on
the remote platform. For members participating in person, the
timer will be broadcast in the committee room on the television
monitor as part of the platform gallery view and visible in its
own thumbnail window. The Committee room timer will not be in
use. For members participating remotely, this will be visible
in the gallery view in its own thumbnail on the remote
platform.
Members are asked to wrap up promptly when their time is
expired. Finally, although the recent guidance from the Office
of Attending Physician has made mask-wearing optional at this
time, please know that we have in our midst both at the member
and staff levels individuals who are immunocompromised, and/or
who have immediate family members who are immunocompromised, as
well as who are not vaccinated either due to medical reasons or
because they have not yet been able to get vaccinations for
their children under the age of five.
Therefore, the Committee strongly recommends that masks
continue to be worn out of concern for the safety of the
unvaccinated and immunocompromised Committee members and staff
and their families.
Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c), opening statements are
limited to the Chair and the ranking member. This allows us to
hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all members with
adequate time to ask questions. I recognize myself now for the
purpose of making an opening statement.
Today we are meeting to discuss the Biden-Harris
administration's priorities for Federal child nutrition
programs, and the steps they have taken to prevent and address
child hunger. We can all agree that children need healthy meals
to learn and grow. Despite this consensus, too many children
still do not have access to healthy food. In 2018, nearly one
in every seven households with children struggled to put enough
food on the table, and as we all know the pandemic exacerbated
this crisis.
Just weeks into the pandemic, more than one in every three
households with children and nearly half of all mothers with
young children struggled with food insecurity. A year later in
April 2021, food shortages among households with children fell
by 42 percent. This was not by happenstance. Congress and the
Biden-Harris Administration acted decisively to deliver relief
to families and prevent millions of children from going hungry.
One of the first relief packages, the Families First
Coronavirus Response Act, included provisions based on my
bipartisan COVID-19 Child Nutrition Response Act, which gave
the USDA critical flexibility to allow schools and community
partners to deliver meals to families and offer free meals to
all children through the Summer Food Service Program.
The bill also created the Pandemic EBT or PEBT so low-
income families who could not physically get to the school meal
site could still receive funding to help their children.
Research indicates that the PEBT program has lifted as many as
3.9 million children out of hunger. I recently visited Chapman
Elementary School in Portland, Oregon during the lunch hour,
and I helped serve meals to students.
It was an important reminder that school nutrition staff
have been tirelessly working to get meals to kids even with
inflation and supply chain challenges. In hearing directly from
an enthusiastic group of third graders about why it is
important for every student to have access to healthy meals,
was an important reminder that our actions here in this
committee room have tremendous consequences for the families
and children we represent.
I am excited that today the House will vote on the
bipartisan Keep Kids Fed Act, to extend flexibilities from the
Families First Act, and allow schools to continue serving
children healthy meals. Without congressional action, many of
these useful flexibilities will expire on June 30th,
potentially stripping millions of children's access to school
meals. Unfortunately, we know that some of the most vulnerable
families in our communities are facing additional challenges.
After Abbott Nutrition, one of the country's largest formula
manufacturers recalled many of its formula products, families
across the country with young children struggled to find
formula they needed.
In response, Congress passed the Access to Baby Formula
Act, to make sure that low-income families that use WIC
Benefits can continue purchasing safe infant formula in times
of crisis, such as supply chain disruptions. In Oregon, this
legislation provides more than 10,000 infants with better
access to formula. Despite the accomplishments we have made, we
have much more work ahead to keep children from going hungry.
We must provide urgent relief to help families address the
rising costs of everyday goods and deliver sustained support to
families, to help finally eliminate child hunger.
To that end, House Democrats and a handful of Republicans
passed the Lower Food and Fuel Cost Act, which will shore up
the food and agriculture supply chain and lower the cost of
goods at the grocery store. I will note that most of my
Republican colleagues opposed this legislation. I ask my
colleagues critical of our attempts to lower costs not to just
oppose our efforts, but please work with us and offer solutions
to help families put food on the table. I also invite my
colleagues to join Democrats in passing a comprehensive
science-driven Federal child nutrition reauthorization.
Regrettably, the underlying Federal laws that authorize
Federal child nutrition programs expired in 2015.
Reauthorization is critical to addressing child hunger, and I
hope my Republican colleagues will join Democrats to pass a
comprehensive Federal child nutrition reauthorization. The
lessons learned from our response to COVID-19 reaffirm that
when we invest in child nutrition programs, we keep children
from going hungry.
That is a good investment in the short-term and the long-
term, and I want to reiterate a simple fact: to eliminate child
hunger, we must deliver sustained investments in our child
nutrition programs. Thank you, Administrator Long for all you
do for our Nation's children. Together, I am confident we can
help children reach their full potential, and I now recognize
Ranking Member, the distinguished Ranking Member, for the
purpose of making an opening statement.
[The Statement of Chairwoman Bonamici follows:]
Statement of Hon. Suzanne Bonamici, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Civil
Rights and Human Services
Today, we are meeting to discuss the Biden-Harris Administration's
priorities for federal child nutrition programs and the steps they have
taken to prevent and address child hunger.
We can all agree that children need healthy meals to learn and
grow. Despite this consensus, too many children still do not have
access to healthy food. In 2018, nearly one in every seven households
with children struggled to put enough food on the table.
As we all know, the pandemic exacerbated this crisis. Just weeks
into the pandemic, more than one in every three households with
children and nearly half of all mothers with young children struggled
with food insecurity. A year later, in April 2021, food shortages among
households with children fell by 42 percent.
This was not by happenstance. Congress and the Biden-Harris
Administration acted decisively to deliver relief to families and
prevent millions of children from going hungry.
One of the first relief packages--the Families First Coronavirus
Response Act--included provisions based on my bipartisan COVID-19 Child
Nutrition Response Act, which gave the USDA critical flexibility to
allow schools and community partners to deliver meals to families and
offer free meals to all children through the Summer Food Service
Program.
The bill also created the Pandemic EBT program, or P-EBT, so low-
income families that could not physically get to school meal sites
could still receive funding to help their children. Research indicates
that the P-EBT program has lifted as many as 3.9 million children out
of hunger.
I recently visited Chapman Elementary School in Portland, Oregon
during the lunch hour and I helped serve meals to students. It was an
important reminder that school nutrition staff have been tirelessly
working to get meals to kids, even with inflation and supply chain
challenges. Hearing directly from an enthusiastic group of third
graders about why it is important for every student to have access to
healthy meals was an important reminder that our actions here in this
committee room have tremendous consequences for the families and
children we represent.
I am excited that, today, the House will vote on the bipartisan
Keep Kids Fed Act to extend flexibilities from the Families First Act
and allow schools to continue serving children healthy meals. Without
Congressional action, many of these useful flexibilities will expire on
June 30, potentially stripping millions of children's access to school
meals.
Unfortunately, we know some of the most vulnerable families in our
communities are facing additional challenges. After Abbott Nutrition--
one of the country's largest formula manufacturers--recalled many of
its formula products, families across the country with young children
struggled to find formula they needed. In response, Congress passed the
Access to Baby Formula Act to make sure that low-income families that
use WIC benefits can continue purchasing safe infant formula in times
of crisis, such as supply chain disruptions. In Oregon, this
legislation provides more than 10,000 infants with better access to
formula.
Despite the accomplishments we have made, we have much more work
ahead to keep children from going hungry. We must provide urgent relief
to help families address the rising costs of everyday goods and deliver
sustained support to families to help finally eliminate child hunger.
To that end, House Democrats and a handful of Republicans passed
the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, which will shore up the food and
agriculture supply chain and lower the cost of goods at the grocery
store.
I will note that most of my Republican colleagues opposed this
legislation. I ask my colleagues critical of our attempts to lower
costs not to just oppose our efforts, but please work with us and offer
solutions to help families put food on the table.
I also invite my colleagues to join Democrats in passing a
comprehensive, science-driven federal child nutrition reauthorization.
Regrettably, the underlying federal laws that authorize federal
child nutrition programs expired in 2015. Reauthorization is critical
to addressing child hunger, and I hope that my Republican colleagues
will join Democrats to pass a comprehensive federal child nutrition
reauthorization.
The lessons learned from our response to COVID-19 reaffirm that,
when we invest in child nutrition programs, we keep children from going
hungry. That is a good investment in the short-term and the long-term.
I want to reiterate a simple fact-to eliminate child hunger, we
must deliver these sustained investments in our child nutrition
programs.
Thank you, again, Administrator Long, for all you do for our
nation's children. Together, I am confident we can help children reach
their full potential.
______
Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Madam Chair. Hope your health is
recovering and I look forward to seeing you back in the chair
in the office soon. All the best to you.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Fulcher. Thank you.
Mr. Fulcher. Committee Republicans understand the
importance of ensuring children are well-fed during the school
day, and we recognize the importance of reaching students that
are truly in need with the benefits of school-provided
nutritional programs. However, as we exit this pandemic,
creating permanent changes to school nutrition programs without
first determining if such changes are needed is nonsensical.
Before these programs are reauthorized, we need to validate
which aspects of these programs work and which do not. The
majority party has used the pandemic as a springboard to expand
Federal control, thereby increasing spending into seemingly
every aspect of American life, including school lunch programs.
Prior to the pandemic, child nutrition programs provided
approximately 30 million lunches and 14 million school
breakfasts every school day, and the need to assess these
programs in the post-pandemic era remains. We saw Congress and
the previous administration move quickly to help ensure needy
students had access to food and did not miss a meal. We need to
make sure these programs move forward under normal operation.
Taxpayer funds should be used to help students in real
need. Allowing wealthy families to take advantage of school
lunch programs is not responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
Instead, we should look for ways to strengthen the programs by
learning the lessons of the pandemic from people operating
under the nutrition program's rules. There should be
concentrated efforts from USDA, states and schools to help
parents transition back to regular operations, including the
filling out of applications to determine free and reduced-price
eligibility.
This also means not overburdening the programs with new
challenges. Once again, the administration is looking to
overhaul the meal pattern regulations with more Federal
control. The last time the Secretary did this, the final rule
added billions in taxpayer expenses to schools and led to such
significant challenges that some of the requirements had to be
waived just to make the programs work.
It is just not right to increase costs, add complexity or
pursue pet projects. This should be a time the USDA should
listen to the local folks on the ground and learn from the
challenges the pandemic taught us. We're also concerned about
the administration's recent Title IX guidance. We are concerned
the administration plans to hold school lunch programs hostage
unless schools capitulate to controversial gender policies.
Boys and girls get hungry. As school nutrition relates to
the gender, that is the only guideline we need. The nutrition
of children should not be used as a tool to advance the Biden
Administration's progressive agenda. This all underscores that
we need more transparency from the administration about how
this new guidance will apply to nutrition programs, and how it
will impact faith-based providers participating in the
programs.
The Biden Administration has already targeted faith-based
entities in other areas. I would hate to see children suffer
because of this administration's vindictive and biased
policies. Last, this administration must insert some
commonsense intelligence to the baby formula shortage issue, or
at least get out of the way of the market. For the week of May
22 to 29, the out-of-stock rate for baby formula was 73.5
percent. Yes, that is 73.5 percent in America for baby formula.
These are not rocket components for microprocessors; it is
baby formula, and it is unacceptable. If we cannot solve this
problem, heaven help us on issues with complexity. Parents and
caregivers across the country should not have to wake up in the
morning not knowing if they are going to be able to feed their
babies. The USDA does not have control over the FDA, but it is
imperative the administration and its agencies work together to
solve it.
I am glad we were able to pass H.R. 7791, the bipartisan
Access to Baby Formula Act, but this bill alone will not solve
the crisis. We must secure our baby formula supply chain, so
this never happens again. In the meantime, this Committee would
like to hear from the Biden Administration on how this crisis
has impacted WIC participants. Americans need answers. Madam
Chair, I yield back.
[The Statement of Ranking Member Fulcher follows:]
Statement of Hon. Russ Fulcher, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Civil
Rights and Human Services
Committee Republicans understand the importance of ensuring
children are well fed during the school day and we recognize the
importance of reaching students that are truly in need with the
benefits of school-provided nutrition programs. However, as we exit
this pandemic, creating permanent changes to school nutrition programs
without first determining if such changes are needed is nonsensical.
Before these programs are reauthorized, we need to validate which
aspects of these programs work and which don't.
The majority party has used the pandemic as a springboard to expand
federal control (thereby increasing spending) into seemingly every
aspect of American life including school lunch programs. Prior to the
pandemic, child nutrition programs provided approximately 30 million
lunches and 14 million school breakfasts every school day. The need to
assess these programs in the `post-pandemic' era remains.
We saw Congress and the previous administration move quickly to
help ensure needy students had access to food and did not miss a meal.
We need to make sure these programs move forward under normal
operation. Taxpayer funds should be used to help students in real need.
Allowing wealthy families to take advantage of school lunch programs is
not a responsible use of taxpayer dollars. Instead, we should look for
ways to strengthen the programs by learning the lessons of the pandemic
from people operating under the nutrition program's rules.
There should be concentrated efforts from USDA, states, and schools
to help parents transition back to regular operations including the
filling out of applications to determine free and reduced price
eligibility.
This also means not over burdening the programs with new
challenges. Once again, the administration is looking to overhaul the
meal pattern regulations with more federal control. The last time the
Secretary did this the final rule added billions in taxpayer expenses
to schools and led to such significant challenges that some of the
requirements had to be waived just to make the programs work. It is
just not right to increase costs, add complexity, or pursue pet
projects.This should be a time the USDA should to listen to the local
folks on the ground and learn from the challenges the pandemic taught
us.
We are also concerned about the administration's recent Title IX
guidance. We are concerned the administration plans to hold school
lunch programs hostage unless schools capitulate to controversial
gender policies. Boys and girls get hungry. As school nutrition relates
to the gender; that is the only guideline we need. The nutrition of
children should not be used as a tool to advance the Biden
administration's progressive agenda.
This all underscores why we need more transparency from the
administration about how this new guidance will apply to nutrition
programs, and how it will impact faith-based providers participating in
the programs. The Biden administration has already targeted faith-based
entities in other areas, and I would hate to see children suffer
because of this administration's vindictive and biased policies.
Lastly, this administration must insert some common-sense
intelligence into the baby formula shortage issue, or at least get out
of the way of the market. For the week of May 22-29, the out-of-stock
rate for baby formula was 73.5 percent. Yes, that is 73.5 percent. In
America. For baby formula. These are not rocket components or
microprocessors, its baby formula. This is unacceptable. If we cannot
solve this problem, heaven help us on issues with complexity.
Parents and caregivers across the country should not have to wake
up in the morning not knowing if they are going to be able to feed
their babies. USDA does not have control over the FDA, but it is
imperative the administration and its agencies work together to solve
it.
I am glad we were able to pass H.R. 7791, the bipartisan Access to
Baby Formula Act, but this bill alone will not solve the crisis. We
must secure our baby formula supply chains so this never happens again.
In the meantime, this Committee would like to hear from the Biden
administration on how this crisis has impacted WIC participants.
Americans need answers.
______
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Ranking Member Fulcher.
Without objection, all other members who wish to insert
statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the
Committee Clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5
p.m. on July the 7th. I will now introduce the witness. Ms.
Cindy Long is the administrator of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. She previously served
as the Food and Nutrition Service, she previously served the
Food and Nutrition Service in other roles including deputy
administrator for FNS Child Nutrition Programs.
Ms. Long earned an MPA in Public Policy in Economics from
Princeton University's School of Public and International
Affairs and a BA in Economics from the University of Notre
Dame. Ms. Long, you are recognized for 5 minutes for your
testimony.
STATEMENT OF CINDY LONG, ADMINISTRATOR, USDA
Ms. Long. Thank you, Chair Bonamici.
Chairman Bonamici. Excuse me Ms. Long, before I begin, I do
need to say that we appreciate the witness for participating
today and look forward to your testimony. Let me remind the
witness that we have read your written statement. It will
appear in full in the hearing record, and pursuant to Committee
Rule 8(d) and Committee practice, you are asked to limit your
oral presentation to a 5-minute summary of your written
statement.
Before you begin, please remember to unmute your
microphone, which I know you did. During your testimony, staff
will be keeping track of time, and the timer will be visible to
you at the witness table. Please be attentive to time and wrap
up when your time is over. We will let you make your
presentation before we move to member questions and when
answering a question, please remember to unmute your
microphone.
The witness is aware of her responsibility to provide
accurate information to the Subcommittee, and therefore we will
now proceed with her testimony. My apologies again,
Administrator Long you are recognized.
Ms. Long. Thank you, Chair Bonamici, Ranking Member Fulcher
and members of the Subcommittee for inviting me to join you
today. I am Cindy Long, and I am the administrator of USDA's
Food and Nutrition Service. Before I start, I want to thank you
all for your commitment to FNS programs and to America's
children.
I want to focus my limited time on several current
challenges facing WIC and child nutrition, and I hope we'll
have a chance to talk more about all the other efforts underway
to strengthen the programs for the long term as well. As
members of this Subcommittee are well aware, WIC and the child
nutrition programs are highly effective and impactful. For
example, there is strong evidence that WIC participation leads
to positive outcomes, fewer infant deaths, fewer premature
births and increased birth weights. It saves money on health
care costs and also leads to better health and academic
outcomes for children.
The share of eligible families participating in WIC has
been declining over the past decade, and it currently stands at
only about 50 percent. That is why with the investment that
Congress made in the American Rescue Plan Act, we are infusing
the program with resources to spur modernization and innovation
that will help mothers and children for generations to come. We
are committed to reversing a decline in participation and
enhancing service delivery with a focus on improving equity and
reducing health disparities.
Top of mind for all of us and for families across the
country is addressing the effect of the infant formula shortage
for WIC families. From the moment that the FDA alerted us to
the recall, USDA has been working day and night as part of an
all of government response to ensure that WIC families have
access to formula. Within 3 days, we issued over 100 waivers to
allow WIC recipients to exchange formula and purchase
alternatives.
We continue to work with WIC's State agencies and Federal
partners, most recently to ensure that WIC can benefit from the
new supply coming in from overseas. We are very grateful to the
Committee for its leadership in passing the bipartisan Access
to Baby Formula Act, which has supported us in our current
activities and will give us authority in the future to respond
to emergencies.
We will continue to work closely with our Federal and
private sector partners to prioritize WIC families in our
response. Similarly, we are working hand in hand with our child
nutrition partners to address the pressing challenges that they
face. Since March 2020, Congress provided USDA with wide
latitude and resources for child nutrition programs, and we've
deployed them to help operators continue to feed kids. We are
very glad that children are back in school, but school meal
programs do still face tremendous challenges caused by supply
chain disruptions, cost increases and labor challenges. They
will undoubtedly need transitional support and flexibility.
These programs typically operate on very slim margins, and
they are struggling to afford everything they need in very
tight markets. That is why we asked Congress to extend the
waiver authority and provide schools with the financial and
operational support they need to get through this upcoming
transitional school year. We are very pleased to see that
bipartisan Child Nutrition is moving through Congress, which
will provide some additional financial and operational support
to schools and other program operators.
This support will be extremely important, but there is no
denying that it is nonetheless going to be a challenging year.
Schools will be managing with fewer resources than they have in
recent years, while transitioning back to standard operations,
including collecting and processing applications. There really
has never been a more important time to rally around child
nutrition programs.
USDA is doing everything we can using every authority we
have to help schools navigate the transition, but it will take
a collective effort by Congress, by USDA, by local school
administrators, by parents and industry and others to maintain
the strength of our school meals programs. I have worked in
child nutrition for a very long time, but I will say I have
never been prouder to be associated with school meals than I
have in recent years.
Seeing school nutrition programs put themselves at risk,
work tirelessly to ensure that children could access nutritious
meals despite everything going on around them, it really tells
you what these folks are made of. They do it for a good reason.
School meals play a pivotal role in our children's health and
well-being. For many of the 30 million children that
participate on an average day, school breakfast and lunch make
up about half of what they eat. We know that nutritious meals
can make a meaningful difference in kids' success at school.
When we move the needle on the nutrition quality of school
meals even a little bit, we can expect significant impacts for
millions of children.
There is so much more critically important work going on in
WIC and child nutrition. We are updating WIC food packages to
reflect the latest evidence. We are engaging extensively with
stakeholders to inform a long-term update on nutrition
standards and school meals, and we are acting on several fronts
to make WIC Online a reality. Despite the challenges in front
of us, we will keep working to strengthen WIC and the child
nutrition programs for the long term, because we know without a
doubt how critical healthy food is for kids.
Thank you again for having me, and I look forward to our
dialog.
[The prepared statement of Cindy Long follows:]
Statement of Cindy Long, Administrator, United States Department of
Agriculture
Thank you, Chairwoman Bonamici, Ranking Member Fulcher, and Members
of the Subcommittee for the invitation to join you today to discuss the
policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food
and Nutrition Service. I am Cindy Long, the Administrator of the Food
and Nutrition Service (FNS) at USDA. In this role I am responsible for
administering America's nutrition assistance programs, which ensure
every American has access to the food they need, even during difficult
times. I want to start by thanking you for your commitment to these
programs and to America's children.
I know the Members of the Subcommittee are well-versed in the
impact and importance of the Child Nutrition Programs and of the
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and
Children--or WIC. These programs are highly effective at connecting
parents and caregivers, babies, and children with nutritious food and
promoting good nutrition so that parents and caregivers can take steps
to support their children's health, growth, and development.
In my testimony, I want to highlight the power and reach of these
programs, how they have adapted to meet the moment during the pandemic,
and to talk about short and long-term challenges and opportunities.
Child Nutrition and WIC: A Record of Success
Prior to the pandemic, about 30 million students relied on school
meals to get the nutrition they need to grow and learn, including
nearly 22 million from low-income families that received these meals
free or at reduced price. For many children, school breakfast and lunch
make up about half of what they eat every day, and we know that access
to nutritious mealsmakes a difference for our kids' success in the
classroom. When we move the needle on nutrition in school meals, we can
expect to see meaningful impacts for millions of children.
The National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, Summer Food
Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program provide critical
nutrition to tens of millions of children every day, while exposing
them to healthy foods and nurturing healthy habits they can carry
throughout their lives.
The WIC program is one of the nation's most important and cost-
effective public health programs. There is strong evidence that
participation in WIC leads to better pregnancy outcomes--fewer infant
deaths, fewer premature births, and increased birth weights--and saves
money on health care costs. It also leads to better health and academic
outcomes for children.
Responding to the Pandemic: A Collective Effort
The pandemic has shined a light on just how essential and impactful
these programs are. The past few years have presented challenges to the
WIC and school meal programs that no one could have imagined. I applaud
Congress for recognizing the extraordinary need and acting quickly to
address it--not just once, but in five separate pieces of legislation
over the past two years, and another in just the past month. Together,
we have taken bold action to help ensure our children and families can
safely access healthy food they depend on through Child Nutrition
Programs and WIC.
USDA has capitalized fully on the authorities Congress provided and
has taken aggressive action to support states and local program
operators in the critical mission of nourishing our children. We
adapted program rules to respond to extraordinary circumstances and
provided operational flexibilities to simplify program administration
and support social distancing.
WIC serves families at a time in life when proper nutrition is
particularly important and highly specialized. Ensuring moms, babies,
and young children can easily access WIC without interruption is
critical for healthy pregnancies and births, and WIC helps lay a
healthy foundation for infants and young children as they grow. To
ensure these families did not lose access in the pandemic, we quickly
adjusted requirements for the food package, the certification process,
and how we provided nutrition education. Congress also increased WIC
cash value vouchers for fruits and vegetables for moms and children.
In school meals, we provided operational flexibilities to support
flexible meal service options like ``grab and go'' and parent pickup
and flexibilities around meal pattern and nutrition requirements where
needed. Very importantly, supplemental appropriations and waiver
authority provided by Congress have allowed us to provide additional
funding by allowingschools to serve free meals to all students and
increasing reimbursement rates. All told, we provided an estimated $11
billion in additional funds for the past school year for school
districts to maintain meal service in the face of significant
obstacles.
Since March 2020, school nutrition and education professionals
across the country have worked tirelessly to make sure that children
have access to meals despite unprecedented challenges. They have
utilized the tools we provided in remarkable ways to feed children--
delivering meals along school bus routes, allowing parents to pick up a
weeks' worth of meals at a time, and entering into public-private
partnerships to provide meals to children in rural areas. We all owe a
debt of gratitude to the many thousands of dedicated school nutrition
professionals and administrators who have spent, and continue to spend,
long hours going above and beyond the call of duty so that kids can
eat.
Overall, these efforts have made a huge difference and underscore
how powerful the federal nutrition programs can be in response to
hunger and hardship. Our work is not done--these programs are facing
new challenges, and your support is more critical than ever. We have to
work together to preserve and strengthen these programs going forward.
Child Nutrition Market Disruptions
Although nearly all schools are providing in-person instruction,
supply chain disruptions, along with cost increases and labor
challenges, have posed significant new challenges for schools. During
this past school year, FNS surveyed all school districts nationwide to
better understand the scale and nature of supply chain issues facing
districts, and about 92 percent reported challenges due to supply chain
disruptions. They reported facing challenges finding enough of the
foods they need, hiring staff to operate the programs, and
accommodating cost increases. We have engaged extensively with a range
of stakeholders, including program operators, school food industry
representatives, and others to understand the challenges they face
daily on the ground, and we will continue this engagement as we look to
how best to support them.
The nationwide waiver authority Congress provided for Child
Nutrition Programs expires on June 30, 2022. We remain disappointed
that Congress has not extended the waiver authority that would allow us
to continue to provide much-needed resources and flexibilities to help
schools and summer programs continue to provide nutritious meals to
children despite major ongoing challenges. We know that schools are
still facing tremendous challenges and desperately still need stability
and time to transition back to a non-pandemic school meals model. That
is why we have asked Congress to extend the waiver authority through
next year to support our schools through this challenging time.
To be sure, USDA is doing everything we can within the resources
and authorities we have to help schools navigate the rocky terrain:
Offering limited waivers under our permanent
authority, like allowing schools and program operators to
provide ``grab and go'' meals when needed due to COVID,
allowing off-site monitoring reviews, and waiving some data
reporting requirements;
Making $1.5 billion available to support school meals
through USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation, including $300
million for states to purchase additional USDA Foods
commodities for use in school food service, and $200 million
for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program
for states to purchase local food for schools;
Collaborating with the Departments of Education and
Treasury to highlight how state and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund
and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds
provided to states and localities may be used to support school
meals; and
Streamlining the waiver request process to reduce
burden on states.
The reality is, without continued waiver authority, our toolkit is
very limited. We will not be able to offer the full range of waivers--
including providing all meals at higher reimbursement rates that are
currently available to schools, child care providers, and summer meal
providers. These waivers have provided schools with critical financial
support to cover their additional costs. We know that what we are able
to offer simply does not address all of the challenges that schools and
other operators will face.
Schools will face an abrupt return to standard program operations
in the fall, along with a dramatic reduction in financial support. At
the same time, schools are struggling to operate within a supply
constrained marketplace, and increased labor costs or labor shortages.
School meal programs traditionally operate on very tight margins and
are struggling to find suppliers to continue to support them at
affordable prices. School districts report major challenges with
obtaining critical supplies and food items on a consistent basis with
reliable delivery schedules. Some districts are getting no responses to
bids for next year, and some suppliers are reportedly exiting the
market.
Schools will also face transition challenges as they return to
regular program operations, including uncertainty about participation
levels as well as concern about rising unpaid meal debt associated with
the return to meal applications.Traditionally, we have seen strong
bipartisan support for school meals. We hope that Members will return
to the table to provide school meal programs the support they
desperately need. We will certainly use every tool we have available to
help, and we are committed to moving forward together to ensure kids
get the nutritious meals they need and deserve.
Helping WIC Navigate Infant Formula Recall
Although not the focus of this hearing, I do want to address the
FNS response to the current infant formula recall and its impact on
WIC. From the moment we were alerted to the recall by our colleagues at
the Food and Drug Administration, FNS has been working day and night as
part of an all-of-government response to ensure that WIC families have
access to infant formula during this time. Within three days of the
recall, we issued more than 100 waivers to allow WIC recipients to
exchange recalled formula and access alternative products. The
flexibility offered by these waivers provided encouragement and a basis
for US manufacturers to quickly ramp up production and fill the gaps in
the WIC market generated by the Abbott recall. In addition, due to
USDA's efforts, Abbott agreed to offer rebates for all formula
purchased in Abbott-contract states through the end of August. I want
to thank this Committee for acting quickly to pass the bipartisan
Access to Baby Formula Act, which has expanded our flexibility to deal
with the current situation and provided us with permanent authority to
respond to future emergencies. We will continue to work closely with
our federal and private sector partners toprioritize WIC families in
our response.
Improving Child Health and Nutrition Security through WIC and Child
Nutrition
The difficult circumstances we are all navigating together offer a
unique opportunity for our country to build back better than ever
before. I will turn to a few key efforts we are focused on to do just
that.
Despite the formidable challenges in front of us, we have to
continue working to strengthen WIC and the child nutrition programs in
the long-term because we know, without a doubt, how critical healthy
food is for kids.
Today, one in five American children are obese, and research shows
that childhood obesity increases the likelihood of adult obesity and
associated health risks, creating financial burdens on families and the
health care system. Evidence shows that strong nutrition standards
work, and we are building on the remarkable progress made over the past
decade in supporting nutrition security for America's families.
We are currently in the process of updating the WIC food packages
to include recommendations from the National Academies of Science,
Engineering, and Medicine's scientific report and reflect the latest
Dietary Guidelines. We will publish proposed regulations this year that
are rooted in evidence and will ensure each WIC food package provides
the highest level of nutrition for WIC families.
Together, we have made tremendous strides in child nutrition since
the passage of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010. In fact, a
study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that
during the past decade, school meals became the most nutritious source
of meals for American children.
A USDA study found that, since meal standards were revised in 2012,
school meals have gotten healthier and children are eating better in
schools. Children who ate school lunches were more likely to consume
milk, fruits, and vegetables and less likely to consume refined grains
and empty calories than those who brought lunch from home. Importantly,
the study showedthose gains were equitably distributed across
sociodemographic groups.
Building on progress made on improving the nutrition standards of
school meals, USDA will be proposing long-term updates to school meal
nutrition standards in a way that puts children's health at the
forefront and that is practical for schools. We have put into place
transitional nutritional standards that provide stability and a clear
path forward for schools as they rebound from the pandemic. USDA is
committed to continuing to bolster child nutrition through strong meal
standards in a manner that is both science-based and achievable in the
school environment. We are committed to providing the supports schools
need to continue to provide the healthiest meals possible. We would
welcome your partnership as we work to support schools and school
nutrition professionals in this important endeavor. While it is not
easy to change kids' eating habits and schools face real challenges,
the future payoffs of even incremental changes are extraordinary.
To this end, we recently announced the new $100 million ``Healthy
Food Incentive Fund'' as part of USDA's Food System Transformation
framework. It will support innovation and creativity in school
districts, accelerating their efforts to improve the nutritional
quality of school meals to children.
These efforts are central to our efforts to promote nutrition
security-ensuring all Americans have consistent access to the safe,
healthy, affordable food essential to optimal health and well-being.
Tackling the Summer Hunger Gap
When schools close for the summer, we know there is a summer hunger
gap--hunger increases when children cannot access to school meals.
Typically, fewer than 1 in 5 eligible children get meals through summer
feeding programs. We know how to solve this problem. Rigorous
evaluation of summer EBT pilots showed compelling impacts. Summer EBT
cuts the most severe form of childhood hunger by one-third. It is a
model that works.
When the pandemic hit, Congress deployed this proven-effective
model and created Pandemic EBT (P-EBT), a similar program that provides
food dollars to families to make up for meals missed by free or
reduced-price eligible children due to COVID. Thanks to extraordinary
efforts by states, P-EBT has helped millions of children across the
country. Congress also had the foresight to extend P-EBT into summer
months, providing the opportunity to see the model work at full scale.
For the first time last summer, resource-strapped families nationwide
received EBT cards to buy groceries to provide meals for their children
in the months when school is not in session.
We know that summer hunger will not disappear when the public
health emergency ends. That is why the President has proposed investing
in making this proven-effective program permanent. This would
dramatically reduce child hunger and ensure that we reach children
without easy access to summer meal sites, as we see in many rural areas
of the country. For the coming summer, we have streamlined the process
to support states and territories in getting plans approved quickly to
allow them to provide benefits for this summer. We received our first
summer plan request on May 19, and, as of today, we have approved seven
with more to expected in the coming days. Supporting states in this
effort is one of FNS' top priorities.
Investing in WIC Innovation and Modernization
WIC is one of the nation's premier public health programs, helping
pregnant women, infants, and young children access the healthy food and
nutrition education they need to start their lives thriving. Despite
its remarkable capacity however, only about half of those who are
eligible participate in WIC. We know we have work to do--modernizing
the program toimprove the experience of participants through
investments in technology and innovative approaches to both the clinic
and shopping experiences, including pilots to enable participants to
purchase WIC foods online, including infant formula.
Through the historic investment Congress made in the American
Rescue Plan Act, FNS is implementing the WIC Innovation and
Modernization effort, taking a close look at all aspects of the WIC
program to ensure all eligible WIC families know about the program
through improved communication channels and approaches and can access
it easily through improved use of technology in the certification,
nutrition education, and shopping experiences. We are doing this in a
way that emphasizes equity, striving to break down some of the barriers
that throughout history have resulted in disparate health outcomes for
people of color and other vulnerable populations.
FNS recently announced the Community Innovation and Outreach
project. FNS and its nonprofit partner will develop innovative outreach
strategies and test them at the local level to ensure we are reaching
underserved populations effectively and in ways that resonate with
their needs. This effort will complement a national public health
campaign, focused on helping the public, including and pregnant women
and mothers, better understand how WIC can improve their health and
help them get healthy foods when they are pregnant and have young
children.
Through efforts like these, FNS is committing to reaching families
by ensuring we are developing outreach and communication tools that
speak to families' needs and experiences. In the coming months, we will
take steps to improve the WIC shopping experience--in-store, at
farmers' markets and expanding online shopping opportunities.
Conclusion
I know we share the same goal--ensuring that all children can get
the healthy, nutritious food they need to thrive. This Subcommittee has
a long history of bipartisan support for these programs, and I am eager
to work with you to advance our shared goals and to build on the
success of these programs through Child Nutrition Reauthorization.
Thank you again forinviting me to join you today.
______
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Administrator Long. Under
Committee Rule 9(a), we will now question the witness under the
5-minute rule. I will be recognizing Committee members in
seniority order. Again, to ensure the members' 5-minute rule is
adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time. Please be
attentive to the time and wrap up when your time is over, and
then re-mute your microphone. As Chair, I now recognize myself
for 5 minutes.
Administrator Long, the Summer EBT program has been a
lifeline for many families that cannot afford groceries for
their children. As it currently stands, the program will expire
when the Federal public health emergency ends. The Biden
Administration has proposed making Summer EBT nationwide and
permanent, which will do a lot to address food insecurities for
families across the Nation. Can you please highlight what
Summer EBT has meant to families that struggle to get food on
the table during the summer months, and how FNS plans to
address summer EBT in the future?
Ms. Long. Sorry, I very much appreciate the question. As
you note, Summer EBT has been proven to have demonstrable
impacts on reducing hunger in the summer. We had the
opportunity for gosh, about a decade prior to the pandemic, to
operate pilots in a number of states and in tribal communities,
and evaluate them rigorously, and we found that Summer EBT can
reduce summer hunger by approximately a third.
It is an extraordinarily powerful program. We also know
that current summer feeding programs, while extremely important
and impactful to those who can access them, are not always
available to children in the summer. Over the years, our
ability to reach kids who qualify for free and reduced-price
meals in the summer has hovered somewhere between reaching one
in four and one in five. Clearly the Summer EBT model provides
a path forward. Congress showed great foresight in including a
Summer EBT component to the pandemic EBT program that was stood
up as part of COVID relief, and we have had the opportunity to
operate nationwide summer program last year, and we are doing
absolutely everything we can to encourage states to operate
programs this year as well.
I personally have been really excited to see that the
standing up of these Summer EBT programs as part of Pandemic
EBT has really allowed us to see that statewide programs using
this model, are feasible, and they can work very well to
support children. We would be happy to work with Congress
further to consider the future of the program.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Administrator. The Child and
Adult Care Food Program, CACFP, is an important part of our
care economy. Last year, I reintroduced the bipartisan Early
Childhood Nutrition Improvement Act, which would provide
reimbursement for an additional meal or snack and CACFP reduced
paperwork streamlined program operations, and helped childcare
providers continue to operate effectively. Can you talk about
the importance of strengthening and expanding CACFP, a program
that currently serves almost five million children?
Administrator Long, in addition to passing the Early
Childhood Nutrition Improvement Act, what could Congress do to
improve CACFP and better support the childcare infrastructure?
Ms. Long. Well, I could not agree with you more about the
importance of CACFP. I spent the first 5 years of my career at
FNS working on the program. I know what an important support it
is for childcare, and I also need to say that the Biden-Harris
Administration, a top priority is supporting the expansion of
high-quality childcare for working families. CACFP is a
tremendously important support for that. In terms of what we
can to further strengthen the program, I do want to acknowledge
that the legislation that is being considered today would
provide additional reimbursement for all CACFP meals. It would
expand eligibility to the family daycare home part of the
program in a more attractive way.
That is an area where we have, very concerningly seen a
reduction over, a consistent reduction over time in the number
of family daycare homes that participate in that program, and
that is something I would welcome the opportunity to work with
you to reverse.
Chairman Bonamici. Well, thank you, Administrator, and I
have just another minute. I wanted to ask you about--I just
recently visited a food coop here in Oregon that is
participating in the Double Up Food Bucks Program, so thanks to
the USDA. How is the Healthy Food Incentive Fund working to
improve school nutrition programs?
Ms. Long. Well, I would be happy to get back to you and
provide a little bit more detail about how the Healthy
Incentive Fund works to improve programs. As you noted, one of
the key activities under that Fund is to help support programs
that incentivize healthier eating, such as the Double Up
program.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, and I am going to set a good
example for the rest of the Committee members and yield back
the balance of my time. I now recognize Ranking Member Fulcher
for the purpose of questioning.
Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ms. Long, thank you
for your testimony, for being here today. A couple of
questions. First, the Secretary recently announced a $100
million program that was created to, I will use the quote
``create a new Healthy Food Incentive Fund.'' Can you talk to
me about that a little bit? Admittedly it kind of sounds like a
slush fund, but talk to me about what is that--what is that
being used for?
Ms. Long. Yes. The Healthy Food Incentive Fund that was
recently announced as part of the broader food transformation
effort is meant to support, support innovation in healthier
school meals. Specifically, the program will be developed to
recognize and support schools in serving healthier meals. It
will include approaches like recognition, as well as actually
providing resources for schools to serve healthier meals.
Mr. Fulcher. Ms. Long, in your view is it--is that really
happening, and if so, who are the decisionmakers? Are there
locals involved with that, State officials, local officials,
school officials? Is that working, and who is the deciding
factors on making those decisions of where that money goes?
Ms. Long. Well, the program has yet to be rolled out. We
will be announcing, you know, the specifics of how it will
operate. The intent is to again, provide, to stand up a program
that provides a recognition to schools that show improvement or
do something exemplary or innovative in support of healthier
school meals, and it will also include resources that can go
down to the local level, to help with things like training,
menu planning, things of that nature.
Mr. Fulcher. As a followup to that, what is the plan on the
decisionmakers? What is the process? Who will be making the
decisions on where to spend that money?
Ms. Long. Well, we are still working out the details, but
our intent is to engage in a grant or a cooperative agreement
with a partner that will help us operate this recognition and
support program.
Mr. Fulcher. Third party partner, private, public?
Ms. Long. Again, some of the details are still to be worked
out, and we would be happy to come back and brief on that when
we have got--when all of the details are made public.
Mr. Fulcher. Please do. Thank you. Another question. What
programs does the USDA support that may have to do with
promoting better feeding and nutrition at home?
Ms. Long. Well, nutrition education is a significant part
of all of our programs. I will start with our Team Nutrition
effort, which is kind of the brand of our nutrition education
and support in school meals. We provide a variety of resources
there, but it includes things like--things that parents, that
children can bring home. Coloring sheets and workbooks that
they can use at school but also are available for them to take
home.
Parts, in some aspects of that program, we would include
things like after school education, cooking classes. Obviously,
because it is part of the school meals program, it is targeted
toward children. We strongly believe that the effects of those
activities can spill over at home. For example, we often hear
stories of children who are exposed to a new fruit or vegetable
in their school meals program, and they go home and ask mom or
dad to purchase that on the next trip to the grocery store.
Mr. Fulcher. Okay, thank you for that. I am going to only
have a minute and a half left, so just shifting gears for a
moment. You have probably heard my opening statement on the
infant formula situation. I realize this is not the FDA, but I
also know that there is a relationship there, and there needs
to be a working synergy in order to solve this. That has risen
to the top of concerns for a lot of Americans right now, and
from our perspective the FDA's failure to act with expediency
really has caused some panic, and we are struggling with that.
What efforts, if any, is USDA taking on this in order to
protect that industry or get that industry moving again and
make sure we do not have this problem again?
Ms. Long. Sorry. USDA is certainly part of the--all of
government effort and our focus is ensuring that WIC families
have adequate access to formula. Because of our communication,
our close communication with FDA within 24 hours of the recall,
we were able to issue over 100 waivers, to allow WIC families
to do things like exchange formula, purchase alternative
formula if necessary. We have continued to work closely with
our partners across government in the recent weeks and months,
and most recently one of the things we have been focusing on is
ensuring that WIC families have access to infant formula that
is coming in from overseas.
Mr. Fulcher. Okay, thank you, Ms. Long. I will just close
my comments with just--I know you know this, but people are
frustrated over this, and I keep harping on this should not be
that complex of a problem. Please continue the focus there.
Madam Chair, I yield back.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Ranking Member. Next, I
recognize Dr. Adams. You are recognized for 5 minutes for your
questions.
Ms. Adams. Thank you, Madam Chair. It is good to see you.
Hope you continue to do well. Administrator Long, beyond
offering nationwide waivers to help WIC participants dealing
with the baby formula shortage, FNS also recently encouraged
State agencies to work with their baby formula manufacturers to
identify and implement temporary flexibility in their
contracts. This will allow WIC participants to purchase
alternate sizes, forms, or brands of infant formula during the
ongoing shortage. I am proud that my State of North Carolina
and its contracted formula manufacturer are the first to have
put this into action by bringing through a contract
modification that expands access to formula for WIC
participants in the State. More states, I think, must follow
the lead of North Carolina.
What is FNS doing to encourage State agencies and formula
manufacturers to come to these agreements and how can FNS do
more to facilitate these types of agreements?
Ms. Long. Thank you, Congresswoman. As you mentioned, one
of the steps we have taken is to provide maximum flexibility
and strongly encourage states to enter into the kind of
agreements you were describing. We have worked closely with
State agencies on those kinds of arrangements, and we agree
that they have been extremely valuable. As I mentioned
previously, we have taken other steps to support the
availability of infant formula to WIC families, again most
recently including focusing on ensuring that they have access
to the formula that is being brought in from overseas and
issuing the waivers and flexibilities that are necessary for
that to occur.
Ms. Adams. Okay, thank you. Now Administrator Long, we have
heard a lot of talk about FNS May 5th (inaudible) 2022
clarification regarding nondiscrimination protections, and I
would like you to give us a minute or so to explain to the
Committee the agency's announcement.
Ms. Long. Yes. I appreciate the opportunity to correct the
record on this matter. Our underlying principle here is that we
cannot allow discrimination to prevent anyone from accessing
nutrition programs. Consistent with that principle, we issued
the guidance that you mentioned to clarify that FNS programs
must be open to all regardless of gender. Some have incorrectly
suggested that there is a link between this guidance and State
laws unrelated to our programs, involving things like gender
identity in sports. This is not accurate. This guidance applies
to Federal nutrition assistance programs. Others have suggested
that this guidance will result in the loss of program funding.
Again, this guidance only applies to discrimination within
FNS nutrition assistance programs, and in that context our goal
is always working the programs into compliance. Removing
funding for nutrition programs is an absolute last resort for
the obvious reason that we want kids to continue to keep
getting fed.
Ms. Adams. Great, okay. During the COVID-19 pandemic,
school nutrition, WIC and child and adult care food program
providers struggled to continue feeding children in a safe and
accessible way through waivers that Congress authorized under
the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. During the 2022
school year, 90 percent of schools used waivers. What are some
of the ongoing challenges you think families and school
districts will face when it comes to feeding their children
over the next few years, and what plans does FNS have to ease
that transition as children go back to school?
Ms. Long. Well, certainly as I mentioned in my opening
remarks, we do see this as a transitional year, and we do
expect the schools will have significant challenges as they
scale back from the substantial additional financial, and
operational support that they have had during the pandemic. The
kinds of challenges we expect to see involve just being able to
consistently obtain the items and supplies and the labor they
need to run the programs consistently.
In terms of the kind of support FNS is providing, we are
currently using the much more limited waiver authority we have
under regular operations to provide some operational
flexibility to allow, for example, schools to continue to
operate grab and go programs if that is necessary due to COVID
reasons, as an example. We are going to continue to look at
every tool in our toolbox as we go forward, and that will
include working with State Governors, local administrators and
encouraging others to use the resources and the support that
they have to help these programs go forward.
Ms. Adams. Great. Thanks very much. Madam Chair, my time I
yield back.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Dr. Adams. Next, I recognize
the Ranking Member of the Full Committee, Dr. Foxx. You are
recognized for 5 minutes for your questions.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Ms. Long, the
pandemic-related waivers are finally on the path to ending. Up
to this point, all we have seen from advocates and others is
lobbying efforts to extend the waiver authority for another
year. Can you please describe what actions FNS has taken to
support a smooth transition for schools next year returning to
the regular operation?
Ms. Long. Thank you for that question, Ranking Member Foxx.
As I mentioned, just previously, we have used the standard
existing waiver authority that we have now to provide some
operational administrative authorities on a state-by-State
basis, that would allow some flexibility in program operations.
We are continuing to look at every resource we have. The thing
that I would stress is that we are extensively engaged in
conversations with school program operators about what they
need.
We have been trying to provide technical assistance around
things like procurement and in how they can deal with things
like not receiving bids, and contract changes, and the
flexibilities they have to manage that. We have been strongly
encouraging them to look for local and regional sources when
they are struggling to obtain what they need from some of their
historical relationships. We will--we will continue to use
every tool in our toolbox to support schools going forward.
Ms. Foxx. Are you encouraging them to tell you where you
have put up roadblocks to their flexibility and to adapting
Ms. Long. Yes, again, we are engaged in conversation with
program operators and their representatives all the time, and I
will tell you they do not hesitate to share with us where they
think there are roadblocks. For example, as I was alluding to,
because of some of the challenges they have had in the markets,
we have heard a lot about procurement rules and you know what,
you know, things that we need to do to make that more flexible,
or to make people more aware of the flexibilities they have,
just as a for example.
Ms. Foxx. Ms. Long, what role will school meals have in the
White House Hunger Conference and is FNS providing
recommendations, and if so, what are those recommendations?
Ms. Long. Well, certainly FNS is part of the broad
government effort to plan the White House conference that you
referenced. Those, the specifics of what exactly that
conference will cover and how FNS programs might fit in are
still under development.
Ms. Foxx. Well, will you promise to keep us in the loop as
the conversation continues in providing material to us that you
submit to the conference?
Ms. Long. Yes. We are certainly happy to share with the
Committee information about the conference as it develops and
is released.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you very much. I yield back, Madam Chair.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Ranking Member Foxx. Next, I
recognize Representative Hayes. You are recognized for 5
minutes for your questions.
Ms. Hayes. Good morning, thank you. Thank you,
Administrator Long, for being here with us today. I am happy to
hear your comments about WIC and the support of this
administration. I introduced the Access to Baby Formula Act
last month and was thrilled to see that it was signed into law
so that we could close these gaps for WIC participants.
As the formula crisis has shown us, we need to ensure that
our food systems remain both local and resilient. The Farm to
School programs provide grants to schools and educationsites to
support local food procurement, school gardens and nutrition
education. When kids get involved with growing or preparing
their food, they are more likely to eat it. The Connecticut
Department of Agriculture received an $82,000 grant for this
program last year, enabling them to engage with four high needs
school districts in my State. Still too many interested
districts cannot benefit from this successful program.
Looking forward, how can Congress scale up programs like
the Farm to School program, so that more children have access
to these opportunities, and what kind of impact will this have
on children in underserved communities?
Ms. Long. Well first, Congresswoman, let me thank you for
your leadership with respect to Access to Baby Formula Act.
With respect to Farm-School, I could not--I could not agree
with you more about your enthusiasm about that program. I think
it is one of the most important and impactful tools we have
ever had to support healthy meals in schools, and to engage
children around the importance of health and food and
nutrition.
In terms of strengthening the program, I am very happy to
share that we very recently announced that as part of the
Department-wide initiative around strengthening the food chain,
a $60 million investment in Farm to School efforts that will go
toward strengthening State infrastructure to support ongoing
strong Farm to School programs----
Ms. Hayes. I cannot hear anymore.
Chairman Bonamici. We seem to be having some technical
difficulties.
Ms. Long. Is this better? No?
Chairman Bonamici. Can you please stop the clock until we
fix this? Thank you.
[Pause.]
Ms. Long. Hello? No?
Chairman Bonamici. Can we tell if the issue is with the
microphone in the room or is it the virtual platform?
[Pause.]
Ms. Long. The button is on.
Mr. Vassar.[inaudible] However, HRS the Tanberg feed is
muted currently. Just a notification to HRS I have real-time
video coming through from 2175 on the Tanberg feed, however the
Tanberg audio feed is muted.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you everyone for your patience
while we address this technical difficulty.
[Pause.]
Mr. Vassar. HRS I can confirm, Tanberg feed is switching
optimally, however the audio feed from the Tanberg connection
attendee is muted still. If you can unmute it, I believe the
audio will then also arrive on the platform. Thank you.
Chairman Bonamici. Okay we are having some problems with
the livestream; we are suspended until it is back up. We are
just pausing momentarily, please stay on the platform. We hope
this is resolved momentarily.
[Pause.]
Chairman Bonamici. It does look like Tanberg is now
unmuted. Banyon, should we try again?
Mr. Vassar. Yes. Panelist, Administrator Long, if you can
unmute your microphone and verbally confirm.
Ms. Long. Can you hear me?
Chairman Bonamici. Yes, we can hear you. Okay, we are,
the--Livestream is back up and we are going to continue where
we left off.
Ms. Long. Thank you, and I believe Congresswoman Hayes had
just been asking about the Farm to School program. I just want
to point out a couple of steps we have recently taken,
including we recently announced a $60 million investment to
help support State level infrastructure, to support Farm to
School programs, to really help integrate them into the program
as a permanent part of the program. In terms of looking
forward, one thing that I am very excited about is really
expanding the concept more broadly beyond schools and into
places like childcare settings, as well as doing a better job
reaching communities we have not served as well such as tribal
communities.
I am really happy to report that our, even our grants to--
our Farm to School grants to tribal organizations have
increased quite dramatically in the last couple of years. The
other thing I will just flag is we do have I think a bit of a
rebuilding challenge with Farm to School, in that it was very
often supported and staffed by parents and volunteers who have
not been in the schools as much for the last couple of years.
We just want to keep supporting these programs at the local
level, since they--that is really where the heart and soul of
the programs are.
Ms. Hayes. Well thank you. I think you have led right into
my next question. I introduced bipartisan legislation for
scratch cooked meals for students, the Scratch Cooked Meals for
Students Act. This would create a grant program to help schools
transition and cook many of their meals from scratch, engage
with local farmers, and have the school and community working
together.
In order to do this, districts need to fundamentally change
their food service programs, and by extension their food
service employees. What are the larger workforce development
implications of scratch cooked meals in school, and how can we
create--I guess develop a workforce that will help to lift
programs like this off the ground?
I will just add, you are probably going to take up the rest
of the time with your answer, so in regards to the White House
Conference on Hunger, there are several listening sessions that
are happening around the country right now, so that people can
engage to help build out the agenda. I would love to hear your
thoughts on expanding a new workforce to address our current
needs?
Ms. Long. Thank you, and you are absolutely right, that
there is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and interest in
scratch cooking everywhere that I go, but it does require the
equipment, the capacity and as you say the sort of training and
support to labor. One of the things that we will be doing, I
talked briefly before about the healthier school for--Healthier
School for Foods Incentives Program. One of the critical
aspects of that will be again providing school nutrition
professionals with the support they need to improve and
innovate around school meals.
That could certainly include things like training and
resources for school food service professionals around scratch
cooking.
Ms. Hayes. Thank you so much, and I am so thrilled to hear
you speak about these programs this way, because I have seen
them work and I have seen the impact they have on schools and
local communities. Madam Chair, with that I yield back.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Representative Hayes. I now
recognize Representative Thompson. You are recognized for 5
minutes for your questions.
Mr. Thompson. Madam Chair, thank you so much. Much
appreciate it. Thank you for this hearing. Administrator Long,
thank you for being with us today. I represent Pennsylvania's
15th congressional District. It covers 14 counties, nearly 25
percent of the land mass of Pennsylvania, and through this
area, I represent many dairy farms and have been a strong
advocate for them, and continue to find ways to bring dairy
varieties back into school lunches.
As you know, milk has been one source of nine essential
nutrients in young Americans' diets and provides multiple
health benefits, including better bone health, lower blood
pressure, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2
diabetes, and no other beverage comes close to this level of
natural nutritional value. However, from 2014 to 2016, schools
served 213 fewer, I am sorry, 213 million fewer half pints of
milk, despite the fact public school enrollment was growing.
Now given the nutritional value of milk and the fact young
minds need to be well-nourished to perform at their best, this
is a cause for concern. In December 2018, USDA announced a fire
roll to broaden milk options in the National School Lunch
Program and School Breakfast Program, by allowing schools to
offer flavored, low-fat 1 percent milk rather than only fat-
free milk. While I was extremely pleased to see this, we need
to keep pushing forward.
That is why I have introduced H.R. 1861, the bipartisan
Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which builds off of USDA's
2018 guidance and allows schools who participate in the school
lunch program to serve whole milk as an option. Now this bill,
which has nearly 100 co-sponsors, bipartisan bill, will bolster
whole milk consumption for our children, benefiting them
nutritionally around the Nation and quite frankly support our
rural economy and a more robust rural economy obviously
supports our school districts. It is win-win.
Ms. Long, what do you believe are the next steps to ensure
schools continue to provide more milk choices for students,
including whole milk?
Ms. Long. Well, thank you, Congressman, and I could not
agree more, that milk is a nutrient-dense food that can play a
tremendously important role in children's diet. It is the only
food that is specifically required as part of the National
School Lunch Program. You mentioned the issue of the
availability and the sort of back and forth over time on the
availability of flavored milk. I just want to point out that
earlier this year, we did issue an interim rule for school
meals that continues to allow both flavored milk in both non-
fat and low-fat forms, and so that is currently an option that
is available to schools.
It is true that we--that milk offered in schools must be
low fat or non-fat and that is simply because that is the clear
guidance from the dietary guidelines.
Mr. Thompson. Thank you. I have one more question, kind of
actually builds on the statement you made. The interim rule on
meal patterns essentially does codify the Trump
Administration's rule relating to milk, whole grains and
sodium. Despite everyone actually utilizing this program and
asking for simple stability in the program, USDA is working on
new, updated regulations.
What guarantees can you provide that these rules will be
cost-neutral to the programs, have attainable standards,
provide flexibility so entities can actually serve food the
students will actually eat? As I like to say, it does not
matter what we set the standards at, if our youth will not eat
the food, it is not nutritional. Quite frankly, what assurances
that you will not create extra layers of paperwork or other
administrative burdens in bureaucracy?
Ms. Long. Well, I know from personal experience that school
meal nutrition standards, No. 1 can work. We have strong
evidence from the last major update that the nutritional
quality of school meals improved considerably in the period
after the implementation of standards. Second, I know from
personal experience that they have to be workable, endurable to
be effective; schools have to be able to implement them.
Those are the principles that we will be standing by as we
develop the new proposed rules. We are going to be--we have
been engaged in extensive stakeholder discussions as we are
preparing the proposed rule, and of course it is a proposed
rule. School nutrition program operators, parents, families,
communities, everyone with a stake in this will have the
opportunity to comment, and I can assure you that we take those
comments extremely seriously, and they will be reflected in the
final rule.
Mr. Thompson. Well very good. Well thank you so much, and
Madam Chair, thank you. I yield back the balance of my time.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Representative. Next, I
recognize Representative Leger Fernandez. You are recognized
for 5 minutes for your questions.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you so much Chair Bonamici, and
Administrator Long for joining us today. I am so pleased to
hear much of your testimony and the answers to the questions
from my fellow colleagues. I too have dairy farmers in my
district, so I thank the Representative for those questions. I
want to talk to you about nutrition issues facing my
constituents, but I am going to start with issues around Native
American, because a quarter of my constituents are Native
American.
I am actually told that there is no word for hunger or
poverty in Keres, or other indigenous languages because no one
would be left hungry or without food or what they need to
survive. Right now, currently Native Americans have some of the
highest rates of food insecurity and the highest rates of
diabetes. Last fall when the United States Secretary of
Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited my district, we brought him
together with community members from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and
we talked about targeting the most vulnerable families to make
sure they had access to nutrition programs.
He highlighted the need to make sure that children were
well-fed, so they could begin to learn. We all know all of
that, right. I am reintroducing the Tribal Nutrition
Improvement Act to make sure tribes can administer directly
food assistance programs. Administrator Long, do you support
the implementation of a pilot program to allow tribes to
administer their own food assistance programs?
Ms. Long. Well, Congresswoman, I know that our FNS staff
has engaged with yours quite a bit over, over the bill, and you
know, I will start with the principle that we are absolutely
committed to furthering tribal sovereignty and self-
determination across all of our programs, and you know,
certainly the goal is to provide tribes with the--what they
need to operate, to support their members, and certainly, a
pilot program that would help us explore the best path forward
to that goal is something we would be absolutely happy to
engage with you on further.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you. I am glad to hear that. I
am going to address an issue that is--I am going to talk about
it in terms of the tribal context, but I think it applies in
all rural areas. That is that the reimbursement rate. Many of
the schools serving Native students are in remote areas, hours
from the nearest distribution center, and schools are forced to
purchase foods that travel long distance because it is too
expensive to pay for fresh produce delivered in refrigerated
trucks.
My legislation would allow an increase for reimbursement
rates for Bureau-funded schools, and I was wanting to know if
you would agree with that, the importance that food assistance
programs are affordable and easily accessible to those who need
them?
Ms. Long. Well, I think it is easy to agree that school
nutrition programs ought to be affordable and easy to access. I
will also point out, because folks do not always recognize
this, that the reimbursement rate is intended to cover not only
the food but the labor and the administration, and in most
school districts school nutrition programs are expected to be
self-financing. I think I mentioned in my opening statement
that these programs operate on very small margins, so you know,
the reimbursement rate is tremendously important.
Making changes to that is ultimately Congress's purview,
but again the importance--it is important that these programs
be properly resourced.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. I want to pick up on the time
remaining to me about the importance of purchasing that fresh
produce made in dairy locally, because not only does it assist
with supply chain issues as was recently discussed; it also
bolsters the local economies. I hear the same from my local
farmers and ranchers and dairy about the importance of it. Can
you describe how USDA allows and incentivizes purchasing
locally produce and other goods?
Ms. Long. Well probably the largest way that we do is
through both our Farm to School program grants, which provide
the infrastructure for supporting local purchasing and
agricultural education. We also do within the programs have
something called the local purchasing preference, which allows
schools to kind of, to prefer local products in their
purchasing. We would be happy again to talk with you and your
team about how we can utilize that and strengthen it going
forward.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Yes, I look forward to building some
of that in. We have already started to work on the Farm bill,
and with that Madam Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Representative Leger
Fernandez. Next, I recognize Representative Fitzgerald. You are
recognized for 5 minutes for your questions.
Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you, Madam Chair, Mrs. Long. As
representative from Wisconsin, America's dairy land, I am
concerned that the two stringent standards on milk and sodium
could effectively remove foods like cheese from the school
lunch program. What is the status of the Department's meal
pattern rule, and what will the sodium limit for schools be?
Ms. Long. Thank you for your question, Congressman. In
terms of the status of school meal rules, we are currently
operating under a rule that we published earlier this year that
will be in place for the next two school years, that sets
standards for sodium, which you asked about, that are--for this
coming year are similar to what was in place before the
pandemic.
Second, we are working, as I said in my opening statement,
on a longer-term update of the school meals standards that--
with the intent that that would come into place after the next
two school years. They will consider everything from sodium,
every aspect of the program. It will be a proposed rule and
open to public comment.
Mr. Fitzgerald. In regards to that, if the levels of sodium
are found to be not in line with what the standards would be,
what could you do about that, or how would you--how would you
address that so they would be able to work with those that are
not just cheese producers but other different commodities that
are part of the school lunches?
Ms. Long. Yes, that raises a really important point. We see
our role not only as sort of setting the rules and the
standards but providing the support that is needed for the
rules to be achievable at the local school level. We have been
engaging extensively with school program operators and industry
around these issues, and we have talked a lot about sodium. We
are listening to producers, to manufacturers in terms of the
kind of lead time they need, the kind of challenges they are
facing, what particular products might be more or less
challenging.
We are talking to school program operators about the kind
of training they need, the kind of equipment they might need to
move more toward scratch cooking, because that can be a tool to
reduce sodium. As I have said before, we know that standards
need to be workable and durable in the school context to make
an impact. That is absolutely the goal that we are moving
toward.
Mr. Fitzgerald. The last question I have is more anecdotal,
but certainly something that you hear all the time, and that is
the amount of waste associated with school lunches, frustrating
for people when they are either working a lunchroom or serving
in a lunch room, to see just, you know, full trays of food
scraped into the garbage as they walk out. Is that something
that the Department of Ag--is there any way of monitoring that
or knowing whether or not there is a real relationship between
nutrition and certainly, what kids want and them--instead of
just discarding this food?
Ms. Long. Yes. Well certainly there is too much waste in
the food system at every point, and there is waste in schools.
That is a fact. Now I will say that the research shows--the
research really does not support the idea that healthier meals
are wasted more. In fact, research shows the opposite, that
kids actually consume, participate more in schools that have
strong meal standards.
We certainly do focus our thinking and our technical
assistance around reducing waste. We share with schools' best
practices, things like doing taste tests with the kids so that
they are getting served things that they like and will eat
instead of throwaway. Again, I keep singing the praises of Farm
to School programs, but we have definitely heard that when kids
are engaged in things like school gardens or greenhouses and
they learn about a particular item, they are much more likely
to try it in a school food program.
We recognize the waste is always a challenge, and we do our
very best to try to support schools and share best practices
and resources for reducing waste.
Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you very much. I yield back.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Representative. Next, I
recognize the Chairman of the full Committee, Representative
Scott. You are recognized for 5 minutes for your questions.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you Ms. Long
for being with us today. Just this week I joined Ranking Member
Foxx in announcing an agreement to provide extended and
additional flexibilities and assistance with child nutrition
programs through the next school year. I hope that this
proposal will pass the House today and swiftly pass the Senate.
Can you talk a little bit about why the bill is so important?
Ms. Long. I would be happy to do that and thank you
Chairman Scott for your leadership. As you know, I said in my
opening statement, schools are facing really--still facing very
significant financial and operational challenges, and we
appreciate that this bill would provide both financial and
operational support. Reimbursement rate increases for school
meals as well as for childcare, and it would also provide USDA
with stronger waiver authority to help provide that operational
support. We think this is an extremely important step to help
support them in the coming year, where they will continue to
face significant transitional challenges as we move back to
standard program operations.
Mr. Scott. What would happen to some of the summer programs
if we did not pass legislation?
Ms. Long. Probably the most important thing is communities
will be more limited as to where they can operate programs.
With the national waiver authority that this bill would
provide, we would be able to provide communities more
flexibility to operate programs wherever they see a need.
Mr. Scott. Did you see an increase in the ability to serve
children nutritious meals after the Coronavirus Relief Act
passed, the Families First bill passed?
Ms. Long. Well, I think it is clear that without the
support from Congress to provide, again, the substantial,
financial and operational flexibilities we were able to
provide, schools would not have been able to do what they did,
which was to keep nutritious meals, keep providing nutritious
meals to families, even under the most extraordinary
circumstances. Yes, those measures were absolutely essential.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. I am a strong supporter of USDA's
cross-government coordination with the Department of Health and
Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, and the White
House to rapidly transport safe specialty formulas into the
country for babies with special medical needs through Operation
Fly Formula. This shortage has highlighted the need for
governmental agencies to work together, and I want to make sure
that FNS is committed to doing so given is critical role in
infant and child nutrition.
Can you tell me what steps you are taking to promote
greater collaboration within the government in order to ensure
coordinated response to future recalls and supply disruptions?
Ms. Long. Yes absolutely. We have been engaged from the
very outset in an all of government effort to address the
infant formula shortage. Our particular role there is ensuring
access to formula to WIC families. We were in contact with FDA
from the very beginning and within 24 hours after the recall
was announced we announced the availability of waivers and
flexibilities to allow WIC participants to exchange formula, to
obtain other formula, and within 3 days over 100 waivers had
been provided.
We continue to engage with FDA, HHS and other Federal
partners on literally a daily, sometimes around the clock basis
to address the challenge, and we will certainly be working on
putting structures in place to avert this kind of issue in the
future.
Mr. Scott. Is there any effort to stockpile formula so if a
disruption occurred, we would have more than tomorrow afternoon
to respond to it?
Ms. Long. Well, you know, I would say at this point we are
extremely focused on the acute issue at hand, which is
increasing formula supply through production and importation,
and again getting it in the hands of WIC families. There is
clearly a need and an intention by the administration to take a
careful look at everything to do with this crisis and consider
appropriate steps to avert such a thing in the future.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. I would like to ask you about a
policy that FNS rescinded for the Child and Adult Food Program
and summer program. Up until last year, you allowed states and
State agencies to collect racial and ethnic data just by
looking at participants. Can you explain why FNS decided to
rescind this policy and what you are doing now to ensure equity
in programs?
Ms. Long. Yes. We rescinded the policy because it was just
frankly inappropriate for program operators to be the ones to
be determining someone's race or ethnicity by simply looking at
it. By again, looking at that person, sorry. That policy, as
you mentioned, has been rescinded and we are working closely
with our program operators to come up with alternative ways to
provide accurate data on race and ethnicity, to ensure equal
access to our programs.
Mr. Scott. Madam Chair, I yield back.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do not see
any other Subcommittee members on the platform. It is my
understanding there are none in the hearing room. I now
recognize Representative Omar for 5 minutes for your questions.
Ms. Omar. Thank you, chairwoman, and thank you
Administrator Long for being here with us today. I am actually
a former community nutrition educator, so it is nice to have
you with us and to hear directly from someone who has extensive
experience implementing vital nutrition initiatives. To my
colleagues on the other side of the aisle who might not be
aware of the staggering statistics, right now more than 38
million people, including 12 million children, are food
insecure in the United States.
To put that in perspective, that is nearly one in three
black children, one in four Latino children, 6 percent of Asian
Americans and 19 percent of Pacific Islanders, and 2.1 million
rural households all living with food insecurity. That is
unacceptable. No child in the wealthiest country in the world
should be going to sleep hungry. At the beginning of the
pandemic, as schools were closing their doors, my mind went to
the 30 million kids who rely on school meals for their food
every day.
Immediately, I was able to draft, with the help of the
committee, and introduce the Meals Act, which granted waivers
allowing districts to do whatever it takes to provide universal
school meals, in the hopes of preventing massive hunger crisis.
Thankfully, my bill was included in the Families First
Coronavirus Response Act, and the waivers became law. In August
2020, when the waivers were expiring, we were able to work with
our colleagues to push for those waivers to be extended, and
luckily, we were able to secure that.
This month, we found ourselves in a similar place, as
families look to us to see if we are able to extend those meal
waivers before they expire at the end of the month. Thankfully
today, we will be voting on a bill to do just that. We cannot
stop there. We need permanent solution. That is why one of the
first bills I introduced after I was sworn in was the Universal
School Meals Program.
My question, Administrator Long, is if you are able to
speak more to finding a permanent solution to the problem of
child hunger, and the potential benefits of a universal school
meals program?
Ms. Long. Well thank you Congresswoman for your leadership
in supporting these programs. Certainly a universal approach is
something that has, you know, it would be a significant change
with statutory and funding implications, and ultimately is in
the hands of Congress. I can say that we certainly have seen
the benefits of universal programs, not only in these past 2
years as a part of the pandemic response, but we have had
longer experience with the community eligibility program, which
allows universal programs to operate.
It is targeted toward lower income communities, but it
allows them to operate universal feeding programs, and they
receive their funding based on a formula rather than on an
individual means-tested approach. We have seen great benefits
associated with community eligibility. We hear from every
corner, parents, teachers, principals, community members, how
valuable the program is in increasing participation, reducing
stigma, and just really rallying the community around school
meals.
We would certainly be happy to work with you and your
colleagues moving forward for, on the what the future for
school meals should look like.
Ms. Omar. Thank you, and I have traveled and done extensive
meetings with administrators in my district and have been to
schools and have heard a lot of those success stories directly.
Thank you for amplifying that. Can you also expand on the ways
that the traditional funding model for school meals stigmatizes
the children who receive those meals, as you have just alluded
to that stigma?
Ms. Long. Certainly, well we--some of the things we hear
are that well, one of the issues that I am sure many of you are
aware of is this sort of notion that sometimes children will
appear at school without the ability to purchase a school meal,
and they, yet they are not certified for fully reduced priced
meals for whatever reason, the family did not understand the
application or something to that effect.
They are not able to obtain a meal or they are provided an
alternative meal. We have worked really, really hard to
encourage schools to support kids, provide meals where they
can, be very clear about policies, to avoid exactly that kind
of stigma, which no child should have to experience in their
school day.
Ms. Omar. I really appreciate that. I always say we have to
feed the bellies before we can feed the brains, and as a
country that has the resources, we should prioritize our
children, their well-being, their development, their health,
and their ability to get an education to get ahead. Thank you
so much. I yield back, Madam Chair.
Chairman Bonamici. Thank you Representative. I see no other
members on the platform, and it is my understanding there are
none in the committee room. I want to remind my colleagues that
pursuant to committee practice, materials for submission to the
hearing record must be submitted to the Committee Clerk within
14 days following the last day of the hearing. By close of
business on July 7, 2022, preferably in Microsoft Word format.
The materials submitted must address the subject matter of
the hearing. Only a member of the Subcommittee or an invited
witness may submit materials for inclusion in the hearing
record. Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents
longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via
an internet link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk
within the required timeframe. Please recognize that in the
future the link may no longer work.
Pursuant to House rules and regulations, items for the
record should be submitted to the Clerk electronically by
emailing submissions to [email protected]. I
want to thank everyone for participating today. Members of the
subcommittee may have some additional questions for you, and we
ask that you please respond to those questions in writing. The
hearing record will remain open for 14 days to receive those
responses.
I also remind my colleagues that pursuant to committee
practice, witness questions for the hearing record must be
submitted to the Majority Committee staff and the Committee
Clerk within 7 days. Questions submitted must address the
subject matter of the hearing. I am now going to move to take
closing statements, and I also note someone is not--somebody
needs to mute their microphone. I see Ranking Member Fulcher. I
do not see Ranking Member Fulcher, but I see you are logged on.
Ranking Member Fulcher, do you have a closing statement?
[No response.]
Chairman Bonamici. Apparently not. Okay. I am going to
recognize myself for the purpose of--Ranking Member Fulcher,
were you going to make a closing statement? No. Okay. I
recognize myself for making a--the purpose of making a closing
statement.
Administrator Long, thank you again for your testimony
today. Together the Biden-Harris Administration and Congress
have expanded access to child nutrition programs that have made
a meaningful difference in our effort to eliminate child
hunger. In the early weeks of the pandemic, one in three
households with children struggled to put food on the table.
From January to April 2021, thanks to the Families First
Coronavirus Response Act, food shortages in households with
children fell by 42 percent.
Since then, Congress, and especially this committee, has
continued to work for children, to have access to the
nutritious food they need to learn and grow. Although the
progress we have made is important, you have made clear that we
have much more work to do. Later today, I look forward to
helping to pass the bipartisan bicameral Keep Kids Fed Act, so
schools can continue serving children healthy meals.
The Biden-Harris Administration has been an important
partner in our work to make sure that no one goes hungry in the
United States. The White House is convening a conference on
hunger, nutrition, and health in September. We heard a little
bit about that today. It will mark another essential milestone
to further collaborate on delivering solutions for American
families. As Chair of this subcommittee, I remain committed to
working with my colleagues to pass a comprehensive
reauthorization of child nutrition programs.
As I said earlier, if we want to eliminate child hunger, we
must provide sustained investment. Reauthorization is long
overdue for our schools, our childcare providers, WIC clinics,
and all the students and people these institutions serve. Thank
you again Administrator Long for all you do for our Nation's
children and families, and I look forward to our continued work
together. If there is no further business, without objection
the subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:34 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
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