Child Nutrition ALERT

Now its our turn, alerted now lets ACT!
FRAC ALERT Congressional Countdown:           CNR Action Needed

There’s a lot going on as Congress races toward adjournment next week. Keep reading for the latest from Capitol Hill, including updates on the omnibus spending bill and tax extenders, and continued action for a strong Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR). 

• First, a short term Continuing Resolution (CR) is currently in place to keep the government funded and operating through December 16, while Congress debates an omnibus spending bill. Ideological policy provisions, or riders, are delaying efforts to pass a clean spending bill. Advocates are urging a clean omnibus spending bill without ideological riders.
• Next, legislation to extend certain tax provisions is being negotiated. The bill would extend business and corporate tax credits as well as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Advocates urge that any tax extender bill must make permanent improvements to the EITC and the CTC.
• And most importantly, the Senate Agriculture Committee may finalize a child nutrition bill this weekend to be included in the omnibus spending bill. Decisions are being made very quickly, but there is still time to weigh in on the final bill.

CNR ACTION NEEDED
Call today and tomorrow (Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121) and relay this message:

As a constituent concerned about hunger in our community, I am calling to urge you to make sure the upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill includes these priorities: 

• For summer food, that it allows local government and private nonprofit organizations to seamlessly feed children year-round – both during the summer and afterschool – through the Summer Food Program, rather than require switching between two programs. Also, that it makes permanent the USDA’s Summer EBT Pilot Project and ensures broad access to stores so that low-income children can easily obtain additional nutritional resources when school is out for the summer.
• That it reimburses child care centers and homes participating in CACFP for an additional snack served to children in care for more than eight hours per day.
• That it protect and improve the much-needed updates to school nutrition standards, which are successfully operating in 97 percent of school districts nationwide. (Read FRAC’s new analysis (pdf) on the nutrition standards and how they are working.)
• And that this CNR legislation must be passed without doing harm by paying for changes through cuts or reducing access for eligible children or that weaken any other programs that support low-income people and families.  

STAY IN TOUCH! 

Did you call? Send an email to Kate Sims (ksims@frac.org) and let us know how it went.

If you have any questions about these legislative priorities or FRAC’s advocacy efforts around CNR, email Kate Sims (ksims@frac.org) or Ellen Teller (eteller@frac.org). You can get more background on CNR and legislation supporting these priorities, including bill summaries, endorsements and legislative languages, by visiting FRAC’s Bills We’re Watching page.

---