WASHINGTON, D.C. — The deeply unpopular school lunch program championed by Michelle Obama could be on its way out, but one Alabama Congressman had some serious shots for the “anti-obesity” campaign.
The Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was part of the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign, which has the stated goal of reducing childhood obesity. It gave the USDA the authority to set nutritional standards for all foods sold in schools, including vending machines, “a la carte” lunch lines, and school stores. The USDA has since then set limits on the amount of fat, calories, sugar and sodium in school foods. The Act also increased the number of children eligible for free and reduced-price lunch.
“Only the Obama administration could misconstrue an anti-hunger program into an anti-obesity campaign,” said Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL4) who chairs the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee. “The purpose of the school lunch program is to make sure that hungry kids can eat, as a hungry student cannot adequately pay attention in class if all they are thinking about is food.”
“The Obama administration rules create a cruel irony for some of these children: their best chance at having a full plate of food that day instead turns out to be a portion that comes up severely short of the needed calories,” the congressman added in a statement.
But while the Obama Administration and a bi-partisan group of lawmakers saw the program as a positive step toward reducing childhood hunger and obesity, Aderholt and others saw it as another onerous government regulation that would difficult and expensive to implement across the nation.
Since the regulations began being phased in several years ago, schools around the country have scrambled to seek relief from skyrocketing costs associated with the program.
According to the Associated Press, “The School Nutrition Association says that almost half of school meal programs reported declines in revenue… and 90 percent said food costs were up.”
As a result, a group of Republicans led by Alabama Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL4) included language in the 2014 USDA funding bill to begin returning control to schools at the local level.
“The new USDA regulations are far reaching and have come too fast for local school districts to swallow,” Aderholt said at the time. “As such they have upset the economics of the school meals program by driving the cost of the plate up while pushing participation down. This is causing some school systems to abandon the school meals program altogether.”
Congressman Adeholt said last year that his first-hand experience in school lunchrooms in Alabama led him to push for changes to Mrs. Obama’s program.
“I have been in the school lunchroom, I have sat down with the individuals responsible for preparing student meals, and I have sat down with the students about this,” he explained. “As well-intended as the people in Washington believe themselves to be, the reality is that from a practical standpoint these regulations are just plain not working out in some individual school districts.”
In January, The US Senate Agriculture Committee rolled out legislation to dramatically scale back the program.
According to the AP, the Senate bill is not as extensive as Aderholt’s original proposal, which would have allowed schools to opt out all together, but it still represents a significant scaling back of Mrs. Obama’s top priority.
That bill, deemed a compromise, ultimately passed with bipartisan support.
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