[Stand Watch Listen]

Letter referenced above

October 11, 2013

The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
The Capitol, Room H-232
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader
U.S. Senate
522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Mr. Speaker and Mr. Leader:

On behalf of the School Nutrition Association’s (SNA) 55,000 members nationwide, I am writing to urge you to take immediate steps to end the Federal Government shutdown.

Every school day, over 31 million students across our country depend on the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs to provide the nutrition they need to succeed in school. The protracted government shutdown leaves many school administrators uncertain of their ability to sustain these school meal programs after November 1, 2013, when programs begin to file federal reimbursement claims for meals served through the month of October. The US Department of Agriculture has not guaranteed that adequate Fiscal Year 2013 carryover funding is available in the midst of the shutdown to reimburse all states for all meals served in October.

School meal programs operate on extremely tight budgets and are permitted to carry no more than a three-month operating fund balance. However, many school meal programs struggle to maintain a positive fund balance. These programs depend on the timely delivery of their federal reimbursements to cover staff wages; reimburse school districts for utilities and custodial services; and pay local businesses, farmers and distributors who provide food, supplies and equipment.

A failure by the Federal Government to provide states with prompt funding to make complete, on-time reimbursements for school meals could threaten the stability of school meal programs, impacting millions of students, many of whom rely on school meals as their primary source of sustenance. The lapse in funding could result in significant economic ripple effects throughout communities nationwide.

Every Monday morning, school nutrition professionals across the country open their cafeteria doors to find children eagerly in line for school breakfast after a weekend with not enough food to eat at home. On behalf of those children, I strongly urge you to end the government shutdown as soon as possible to ensure the continued quality and service of school meals.

Sincerely,

Leah Schmidt, SNS
SNA President

120 Waterfront St. | Suite 300 | National Harbor, MD 20745 | phone: 301.686.3100 • 800.877.8822 | fax: 301.686.3115 | www.schoolnutrition.org

[cripplecreek]

Anyone not attached to the federal nipple doesn’t have to worry about such things.

[oh8eleven]

to Protect School Meals
You mean all those wonderful single moms, and all the millions of taxpayer dollars they scam, would let their kids go hungry?
Nooooooo, say it ain't so Joe.

[Right Wing Assault]

Yeah, we don’t want any kids to starve to death just because their incompetent parent can’t make them breakfast or lunch.

[gorush]

Public schools are child abuse.

[Nervous Tick]

SNA: eat THIS.

[SkyDancer]

Moochelle meals?

[facedown]

Correction: The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is a national, non-profit professional organization representing 55,000 school nutrition professionals across the country the Democrat Party.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

So we’re asking them to be responsible parents and feed their own kids, the loved ones they brought into the world? The horrors. The humanity!

[Gritty]

So the poor kiddies can't eat without tons of Obama Stash money and a gargantuan bureaucracy tailored just for the truly incompetent and perpetually whining?

How about if Momma just packs a PB&J or bologna sandwich with a banana and a cookie like my Mom used to do?

But maybe that is just too much to expect ghetto parasites and Gibsmedats to do for the "free" lunches the taxpayers provide to their legions of little bastards - courtesy of our slimy, vote buying politicians?

Is it just me, or am I the only one who doesn't give a sh!t if they get fed with my tax dollars?

[SpaceBar]

The Third Amendment to the US Constitution places restrictions on the government quartering soldiers in private homes, but welfare, foodstamps, and the countless programs funded by the taxpayer to keep an army of dependents clothed, fed, and just a phone call away is precisely that... the illegal quartering of bambi’s private shock troops. They don’t have to physically be in your living room to suck you dry.

[Amendment10]

Organizations like the SNA evidently do not understand that the states have never delegated to the federal government, via the Constitution, the specific power to tax and spend for subsidizing public school lunch programs.

Corrupt Congress is actually using such programs as an excuse to justify constitutionally indefensible federal taxes, imo, an excuse that actually works really well when taxpayers are not being taught the federal government's constituitonally limited powers. Congress is essentially stealing state revenues which could be used to subsidize such programs.

And then Congress has the audaticy to use the possible loss of such funding as a threat to blackmail the states to continue the unconstitutional expansion of its powers.

Finally, somebody please ping me if Boehner or Reid actually respond to the SNA letter in the context of the information provided above.

[familyop]

Homeschool.

[arthurus]

The shutdown should be ade permanent. End all Federal money to schools.

[jodster36]

My 2nd grade daughter, who is not a picky eater, liked the school lunches in kindergarten. Last year, I packed her lunch 2-3 days a week, now this year she only takes school lunch once a week. Why? Not only because most days its gross, its not even enough food! The portions are so small! She’s a growing kid, only 75 %ile weight and 98 %ile height (tall & thin) and loves fruit and veggies. She says a lot of kids throw away over half their lunch. I’m sure a lot of those kids are on free or reduced lunch too.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Should send them a note that a bill has been passed by the House but the head children haters in the Senate and White House are negligent is passing and signing the bill. Please call, write and email those two offices and threaten them with loss of support and lunches for their children and grandchildren. In fact, better yet, threaten them with feeding their children and grandchildren “Moo” lunches.

[Bon of Babble]

I work in the schools. It is indescribable how much government food goes right in the trash, especially the milk and fruit. We can no longer serve chocolate or strawberry milk (which the kids would drink), only 1% or non-fat milk which the kids detest -- goes right in the dumpsters, gallons and gallons of it.

Fruit is second-rate and usually underripe. Kids toss that first. They can't pick and chose what they want (at least at my school they can't) they have to take the "whole enchilada" so to speak.

Most of it looks and smells so terrible that I can't blame the kids for not touching it. took some home to my dogs once, my big dog who EATS EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING (edible or not) wouldn't touch it -- one sniff and he turned away.

Also, the school was making things like hamburger made from pink slime -- Schools said they no longer buy products made with the slime, but I heard on the inside that that isn't true.