Michelle Obama Says: Time is Running Out to Reform School Lunch

UPDATE 12/02/10: The House voted in favor of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, ushering in school lunch reform. The move came after more than 15,000 Change.org members signed a petition supporting the Child Nutrition Act and more than 1,000 members urged Congress to reform school lunch without cutting future funds to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), aka food stamps.  While the bill still includes SNAP cuts, President Obama and Congressional leaders have promised to fix these reductions. Read the full story here.

The Child Nutrition Act expires at the end of September, so swift reauthorization is badly needed. If Congress doesn't get itself together to pass the new Act that's now working its way through the legislative system, a lot of kids will be starting school this fall with  shaky prospects for maintaining full bellies in the coming months.

You know this is an urgent issue when the First Lady herself writes an opinion piece on it in the Washington Post, stating that "it is so important that Congress pass this bill as soon as possible." She continues:

We owe it to the children who aren't reaching their potential because they're not getting the nutrition they need during the day. We owe it to the parents who are working to keep their families healthy and looking for a little support along the way. We owe it to the schools that are trying to make progress but don't have the resources they need. And we owe it to our country -- because our prosperity depends on the health and vitality of the next generation.

Hellooooo, Congress, did you hear that? We owe it not only to our kids and our parents and our schools but to our very country. So what's the hold up? Do you just want kids to just go hungry or what?

Angela Glover Blackwell, writing in the Huffington Post, sees the problem as one of "money and time" (as so many problems in policy are). The money problem is that the reinstated Act would increase the payout for school food by six cents per lunch, which those opposed to passage say we cannot afford. And regarding time, of course Congress is always pressed, but especially so right before elections. Apparently, they just don't have a moment to devote to the topic of our children's health.

If Congress doesn't act in time, there's no guarantee that the process of getting this improved bill into law will still proceed at a later date, so we'll be stuck with a school lunch program that hasn't been overhauled since 1973. As Kathryn Baer writes over on the Poverty in America blog, "millions of children will lose out on the nutritious meals they need to grow, learn and have a fair shot at a healthy, successful future."

We need to make sure that our elected officials pay attention to this bill immediately. You can help by signing this petition demanding no more delays in passing the Child Nutrition Act.

Photo: JR3 via stock.xchng