House Will Go On Autumn Recess Without Voting On Child Nutrition Legislation

[n2doc]

Sec. Vilsack lambasts House for failing to act on behalf of 31 million children

It's been a weird ping-pong match in the US House of Representatives lately, as lawmakers have scrambled to complete business and attempt to evacuate Washington to go home to campaign for the mid-term elections. It's included much debate over what legislation to vote on--and even when to leave town--but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has now confirmed that pending $8 billion child nutrition legislation will not be brought to a vote before Members leave for the Autumn recess, sources tell Ob Fo. The fate of the vote has been up in the air for days.

First Lady Michelle Obama has made the historic legislation a centerpiece of her Let's Move! campaign, and since June, she has repeatedly urged lawmakers to go for it, so President Obama could sign it into law before the end of September. Clearly, that ideal scenario seems to have fallen like a soufflé, despite aides revealing to media this week that Mrs. Obama had been making personal calls to Dems, and that the President's outgoing Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, had been confabbing with House Members, too. (Above: Mrs. Obama in New York last week, where she brought her childhood obesity campaign to an international audience with a luncheon for UN spouses)

Earlier today, when the East Wing was queried about what "Plan B" would be if the House failed to vote on the legislation before the recess, aides declined to immediately comment. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack did comment on the House's action (or lack thereof), and cited leadership problems as one reason the bill has had trouble getting to the floor (see below for the Secretary's full analysis).

The child nutrition legislation impacts about 31 million children enrolled in the federal school lunch program, and an additional 11 million more that would've participated in a school breakfast program. In August, the Senate passed its $4.5 billion version of the legislation by unanimous consent, and that reportedly involved presidential wooing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)...which included an actual stroll through Mrs. Obama's Kitchen Garden (White House photographer Pete Souza managed to capture the moment on film).

The House legislation could be taken up in the lame duck session after the mid-term elections, which begins November 15--but even that isn't certain. The bill was a historic moment in child nutrition history: For the first time in three decades, the non-inflationary reimbursement rate for school lunches was increased, and there were all kinds of components that helped improve school-based nutrition programs, as well as other federal feeding initiatives.

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[Joe Bacon]

1. Those "Right-To-Lifers" Love Freddy and Frieda Fetus!

As long as Freddy and Frieda Fetus are in the womb, those Right-To-Lifers love them. But the minute Freddy and Frieda pop out, those same folks don't give a rats ass about them. And when Freddy and Frieda starve to death, get beaten to death, get molested, get abused by priests, get a dumbed down education, wind up in the military because there are no jobs and get killed in Afghanistan, well, those same "Right To Lifers" say, "It's God's Will"...