[WH Blog]The President & First Lady on Child Nutrition Bill: "The Basic Nutrition They Need to Learn and Grow and to Pur

[WelcomeBot]

The President & First Lady on Child Nutrition Bill: "The Basic Nutrition They Need to Learn and Grow and to Pursue

Click here to see the video.

As one of her chief responsibilities and greatest passions, the First lady has dedicated herself to helping our children grow up healthy and reversing the alarming childhood obesity trend -- so the President's signing of the the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act this morning at a local DC school was particularly meaningful for her:

We can all agree that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, all children should have the basic nutrition they need to learn and grow and to pursue their dreams, because in the end, nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our children.  Nothing.  And our hopes for their future should drive every single decision that we make.

The President applauded the bipartisan support for this significant legislation, and explained the broader implications for how nutrition affects our kids as they grow up: "we need to make sure our kids have the energy and the capacity to go toe to toe with any of their peers, anywhere in the world.  And we need to make sure that they’re all reaching their potential."  A fact sheet (pdf) issued this morning along with statements of support from across the political spectrum described exactly how the bill acheives these goals, and a sample menu (pdf) shows what it will mean in real life:

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http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/12/1...and-grow-a

[Cha]

I didn't know you had this over here, Winky~ I posted something very similar "In The News"..great minds and all that.

Which is where I see you posted it too.

[Hekate]

Made the mistake of checking at a different site first, but fortunately they had the LA Times link and then I came here.

I'm so glad to see funding for child nutrition increase, but jeez, by mere pennies! Kids in school need healthy food, no question. They should go back to having actual cafeterias on site with cafeteria ladies in hairnets, seriously. Let them make fun of the hairnets, as long as they eat the food.

This part bothers me: The bill also increases the spending per meal by about 6 cents, President Obama noted. He said the money for funding the increase came from cuts in the food-stamp program but that he was committed to working with Congress to find a way to restore those funds. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-...8518.story

Congress (well, the Repubs in Congress) behave as though funding for all social services is a zero-sum game. I'm currently trying to get my daughter to apply for food stamps, so this cuts close to home. I hope the funding for that can be fully restored soon.

Hekate