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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICAN FOOD FOR AMERICAN SCHOOLS ACT OF 2019
______
HON. JOHN GARAMENDI
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I reintroduce the ``American Food
for American Schools Act.'' I want to thank my colleague and northern
California neighbor Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) for his support as
the original cosponsor.
The ``American Food for American Schools Act'' would strengthen ``Buy
American'' requirements under the National School Lunch Program,
administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This will
ensure that school districts use federal taxpayer dollars to purchase
domestically sourced food products for in-school meals. Our bipartisan
bill would also increase transparency so that parents are notified when
their schoolchildren are served foreign-produced foods.
Even in northern California and Central Valley farming communities,
some school districts use taxpayer dollars to buy imported foods,
unnecessarily, without informing parents. In numerous cases, these same
imported foods have been recalled due to safety concerns and outbreaks
of foodborne diseases, when those same foods could have been sourced
locally in the first place.
Under our bill, school districts would be required to obtain a waiver
from the USDA to use any federal taxpayer dollars to purchase foreign-
sourced food products. Any such USDA waivers would only be granted if
the domestically produced food was cost prohibitive or simply
unavailable.
Our bill would also require that school districts notify parents of
all foreign-sourced foods served to students, by posting any such
waivers obtained from the USDA on the school's website. This would
increase public transparency and provide American farmers an
opportunity to seek out school districts that need affordable,
domestically grown foods. Our nation's schoolchildren should be served
nutritious, American-grown foods produced under the strictest food
safety standards in the world. That is exactly what our bill would do.
Last year, Congress included ``Buy American'' language for the
National School Lunch Program in the Agriculture Improvement Act of
2018 (Public Law 115-334). This is a good first step in addressing this
critical issue for American farmers and school parents. Now Congress
needs to finish the job by passing our ``American Food for American
Schools Act'' into law.
Madam Speaker, I hope all members of the House will join me and
Congressman LaMalfa in cosponsoring the ``American Food for American
Schools Act of 2019.'' I also hope that our bipartisan bill will be
included in any future Child Nutrition Reauthorization taken up by the
House and Senate.
____________________
