How Michelle Obama's Fight Against Obesity is Taking Shape

by George Miller · 2010-02-09 05:00:00 UTC
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Congressman George Miller is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Congressman Miller is chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

This year we will reauthorize the laws governing the federal school meal and afterschool meal programs, the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and community-based programs such as the summer meals program and the child and adult care food program. As Chairman of the Committee with jurisdiction of these programs, I take this very seriously. Nothing is more important than our children’s health, but for too many families, healthy meals fall to the wayside as they struggle to make ends meet. Our nation’s school meal and child nutrition programs provide millions of children with nutritious meals and help them develop healthy life habits – and will be critically important in the fight against childhood obesity. As we work to rewrite our child nutrition laws this year, we must focus on eliminating any barriers to these programs, so that all eligible children have access to healthier foods and nutrition education whether in school, child care, or at home.

Because of our work on these laws, First Lady Michelle Obama invited me, along with Cabinet members and other congressional leaders to the White House to discuss ending childhood obesity last week. It was very a exciting meeting the First Lady. During that discussion, it was obvious that improving child nutrition and tackling childhood obesity will be a challenge, but no one is better equipped to take it on than our First Lady. She has already done wonders to raise public awareness of the benefits of gardening and healthy eating and I applaud her for choosing this as her first key policy initiative. I look forward to working with the First Lady on this initiative and am committed to working with my colleagues in Congress on a bipartisan, comprehensive reauthorization of our child nutrition laws.

When I got back to my office, I filmed a quick video about my time with Mrs. Obama and the work ahead of us.

Photo credit: The White House

George Miller
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