PAYMENTS UNDER THE NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1971 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, GENERAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 1:45 p.m., in room 2261, Rayburn House Office Building, the Hon. Roman C. Pucinski (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Pucinski, Meeds, Quie, Bell, Veysey, and Peyser. Staff members present: John F. Jennings, counsel; and Charles W. Radcliffe, minority counsel for education. Mr. PUCINSKI. The General Subcommittee on Education will come to order. The bills before us today are H.J. Res. 889 and S.J. Res. 157, resolutions directing the Secretary of Agriculture to make certain payments under the National School Lunch Act. (Joint resolutions follow:) [H.J. Res. 889, 92d Cong., first sess.] JOINT RESOLUTION To assure that every needy schoolchild will receive a free or reduced price lunch as required by section 9 of the National School Lunch Act Whereas it appears that under the proposed apportionment of funds available for special assistance under section 11 of the National School Lunch Act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1972 (including funds appropriated by section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935, and made available for that purpose), only six States will receive more than 30 cents in such assistance per free or reduced price lunch; and Whereas it appears that this amount per lunch is not adequate to enable States and schools to continue to participate in the school lunch program and to achieve the objectives of the National School Lunch Act, particularly that of providing a free or reduced price lunch to every needy child: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Agriculture shall until such time as a supplemental appropriation may provide additional funds for such purpose use so much of the funds appropriated by section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c), as may be necessary, in addition to the funds now available therefore, to carry out the purposes of section 11 of the National School Lunch Act and provide a rate of reimbursement which will assure every needy child of free or reduced price lunches during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1972. In determining the amount of funds needed and the requirements of the various States therefor, the Secretary shall consult with the National Advisory Council on Child Nutrition and interested parties. Funds expended under the foregoing provisions of this resolution shall be reimbursed out of any supplemental appropriation hereafter enacted for the purpose of carrying out section 11 of the National School Lunch Act, and such (1) reimbursements shall be deposited into the fund established pursuant to section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935, to be available for the purposes of said section 32. SEC. 2. Funds made available by this joint resolution shall be apportioned to the States in such manner as will best enable schools to meet their obligations with respect to the service of free and reduced price lunches, and such funds shall be apportioned and paid as expeditiously as may be practicable. SEC. 3. The Secretary of Agriculture shall immediately upon enactment of this resolution determine and report to Congress the needs for additional funds to carry out the school breakfast and nonfood assistance programs authorized by sections 4 and 5 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1972, at levels which will permit expansion of the school breakfast and school lunch programs to all schools desiring such programs as rapidly as practicable. SEC. 4. Section 11(e) of the National School Lunch Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "Such maximum per meal amount shall in no event be less than 40 cents; and the Secretary shall establish a higher maximum per meal amount for especially needy schools based on such schools' needs for assistance in providing free and reduced price lunches for all needy children." [S.J. Res. 157, 92d Cong., first sess.] JOINT RESOLUTION To assure that every needy schoolchild will receive a free or reduced price lunch as required by section 9 of the National School Lunch Act Whereas it appears that under the proposed apportionment of funds available for special assistance under section 11 of the National School Lunch Act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1972 (including funds appropriated by section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935, and made available for that purpose), only six States will receive more than 30 cents in such assistance per free or reduced price lunch; and Whereas it appears that this amount per lunch is not adequate to enable States and schools to continue to participate in the school lunch program and to achieve the objectives of the National School Lunch Act, particularly that of providing a free or reduced price lunch to every needy child: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Agriculture shall until such time as a supplemental appropriation may provide additional funds for such purpose use so much of the funds appropriated by section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c), as may be necessary, in addition to the funds now available therefor, (1) to carry out the purposes of section 11 of the National School Lunch Act and provide a rate of reimbursement which will assure every needy child of free or reduced price lunches during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1972, and (2) to carry out the purposes of section 4 of the National School Lunch Act and provide a rate of reimbursement of not less than 6 cents per meal. In determining the amount of funds needed and the requirements of the various States therefor, the Secretary shall consult with the National Advisory Council on Child Nutrition and interested parties. Funds expended under the foregoing provisions of this resolution shall be reimbursed out of any supplemental appropriation hereafter enacted for the purpose of carrying out section 4 and section 11 of the National School Lunch Act, and such reimbursements shall be deposited into the fund established pursuant to section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935, to be available for the purposes of said section 32. SEC. 2. Funds made available by this joint resolution shall be apportioned to the States in such manner as will best enable schools to meet their obligations with respect to the service of free and reduced price lunches and to meet the objective of this joint resolution with respect to providing a minimum rate of reimbursement under section 4 of the National School Lunch Act. Such funds shall be apportioned and paid as expeditiously as may be practicable. SEC. 3. The Secretary of Agriculture shall immediately upon enactment of this resolution determine and report to Congress the needs for additional funds to carry out the school breakfast and nonfood assistance programs authorized by sections 4 and 5 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1972, at levels which will permit expansion of the school breakfast and school lunch programs to all schools desiring such programs as rapidly as practicable. SEC. 4. Section 11(e) of the National School Lunch Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "Such maximum per meal amount shall in no event be less than 40 cents; and the Secretary shall establish a higher maximum per meal amount for especially needy schools basd on such schools' needs for assistance in providing free and reduced price lunches for all needy children.". Passed the Senate October 1, 1971. Attest: FRANCIS R. VALEO, Secretary. Mr. PUCINSKI. H.J. Res. 889-introduced by Congressman Carl Perkins-calls for a minimum payment of 40 cents for every free and reduced price lunch served; and S.J. Res. 157-introduced by Senator Talmadge and others-calls for the same minimum payment for free and reduced price meals and also for a minimum payment of 6 cents for all lunches provided under the act. This latter joint resolution was passed by the Senate last Friday 75 to 5. And we are honored to have as our first witness the author of the House resolution, Carl Perkins, the chairman of our full committee. Before I call on Mr. Perkins, I want to express my dismay at the actions of the administration which have necessitated the introduction of these bills and the calling of this hearing today. Earlier this year the committee held hearings on the lunch program and on its provision of free and reduced price meals for needy children. At that time we became aware that the Department of Agriculture had not requested sufficient funds in its budget to provide enough for the free and reduced price meals required by Public Law 91-248 and to provide for the expansion of the summer program. So with broad bipartisan support the Congress unanimously passed H.R. 5257, which gave the Department of Agriculture authority to use whatever funds it would need to achieve these two objectives. The President signed that measure and the Congress confidently went out for the recess. But then in the middle of August the Department issued its new regulations to implement that act, and we discovered that these regulations went directly contrary to what we in Congress had thought we had achieved by passage of H.R. 5257. Those regulations not only rejected the mandate contained in H.R. 5257 to feed as many needy children as possible, but they also threatened the very existence of the basic lunch program. Cities and school districts across the country soon made known the fact that if the new reimbursement rates contained in the regulations were to go into effect, they would have to drop their entire lunch programs. The public outcry and the leadership of Senator Talmadge and others resulted in the Senate's action last Friday. It has also resulted in the Department's action today in revising its regulations to allow a 40-cent reimbursement on a statewide average basis for free and reduced price lunches and only 5 cents for the others. Although this was a major objective that we have been seeking, the doubts persist and we don't believe that this policy is enough. We wonder if the administration is again faced with some new budgetary tricks. Unfortunately the track record does not give us very much confidence in this field. Although we have seen over and over in this administration, again within the past year, the promises made on this program, then somewhere in the time lag between press conference and receipt of the funds by the local school district something happens and once again we are faced with a crisis in our feeding program. We are here today to hear testimony on this development and to weigh our next course of action. I am most pleased to present to the committee the chairman of our full committee, the gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. Perkins, who has long been a champion in this noble effort to provide decent feeding programs for the children of our schools. Mr. Perkins, we are delighted to have you here. Mr. BELL. Mr. Chairman? Mr. PUCINSKI. Yes. Mr. BELL. It should be noted that the administration has increased the school lunch funding for needy children by a thousand percent since 1969, so I think that this administration can be reasonably proud of its record that increases from 4.1 million to 7 million children. I think that is a fairly good record. Mr. PUCINSKI. I appreciate the gentleman's statement, but I am reminded when I was flying missions in World War II we would go out on bombing raids and we would come back with all sorts of statistics on the success of our missions, but the photographs didn't quite prove up to those successes. We used to have a commanding officer who said, "It is true that figures don't lie, but liars make figures." Mr. BELL. I also note you brought up some figures, Mr. Chairman. Mr. PUCINSKI. We are delighted to have the chairman of our full committee here, Mr. Lunch Program himself, Congressman Carl Perkins. We welcome you here, Mr. Chairman. STATEMENT OF HON. CARL D. PERKINS, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR Mr. PERKINS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I certainly want to compliment my distinguished colleague, the subcommittee chairman for taking appropriate action in calling these hearings on such a very important subject matter. There is no subject matter pending in the Congress more important and deserving greater consideration than feeding schoolchildren, especially needy schoolchildren, throughout the country. Principally, the resolution that I introduced amends section 11 (e) of the National School Lunch Act to provide that the maximum permeal reimbursement shall be fixed by the Secretary of Agriculturefor free and reduced price meals-at no less than 40 cents. I want to emphasize that "no less than 40 cents." In many places in the country it should be 50, 60, 70 or maybe 80 cents, but to require some uniformity and give the legislation some stability. If we undertake to put a floor of anything less than 40 cents for a free and reduced price meal for a needy child, we are certainly going to get into a lot of trouble and tear down our school lunch program in general. Other provisions of the resolution set out a requirement for expeditious apportionment and payment of the funds made available by the |