Congressman Steve King (R-IA) spoke at the Values Voter Summit 2012 on September 14, 2012.
Sept. 14th, 2012: King Introduces “No Hungry Kids Act”
Washington, DC- Congressman Steve King (R-IA) released the following statement today after introducing the “No Hungry Kids Act” with original co-sponsor Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-KS). The bill was introduced in response to recently released school lunch standards from United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) that have left children around the nation hungry during their school day due to extreme calorie rationing. The “No Hungry Kids Act” repeals the USDA rule that created the new standards, prohibits the USDA’s upper caloric limits, and will protect rights of parents to send their children to school with the foods of their choice.
“For the first time in history, the USDA has set a calorie limit on school lunches,” said King. “The goal of the school lunch program was- and is- to insure students receive enough nutrition to be healthy and to learn. The misguided nanny state, as advanced by Michelle Obama’s “Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act,” was interpreted by Secretary Vilsack to be a directive that, because some kids are overweight, he would put every child on a diet. Parents know that their kids deserve all of the healthy and nutritious food they want.”
To read Congressman King’s Op-ed on the new USDA School Lunch regulations, click here.
“The goal of the school lunch program is supposed to be feeding children, not filling the trash cans with uneaten food,” said Huelskamp. “The USDA’s new school lunch guidelines are a perfect example of what is wrong with government: misguided inputs, tremendous waste, and unaccomplished goals. Thanks to the Nutrition Nannies at the USDA, America’s children are going hungry at school.”
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Sept. 14th, 2012: King Congratulates Bio-Diesel Industry on RFS Expansion
Washington, DC – Congressman Steve King released the following statement regarding the EPA’s announcement today that it will approve an expansion of the the 2013 Bio-diesel Renewable Fuel Standard requirement to 1.28 Billion gallons. The current RFS regulation for Bio-diesel was set at 1 Billion gallons for 2013 with the flexibility that higher allowances would be granted if the industry could present a case for a need for such an increase.
“My congratulations to the Bio-diesel Industry for their tremendous work to get the Bio-diesel RFS expanded from the current 1 Billion gallons in 2013 to 1.28 Billion gallons,” said King. “The industry has shown we have sufficient feedstocks available to meet the RFS and that we have the capacity to produce even more than 1.28 Billion gallons. This change will add to our growing ability to produce homegrown, clean burning, renewable fuels.”
Those kids didn’t get over weight eating healthy and nutritious food. Tell them they can fill up on celery or they can be hungry. Which one do you think they will choose?
We had the best hot lunches in the world when I was in school 45-58 years ago. We ate what we were fed – no choices – and there was no food wasted. The meals were prepared by cooks from scratch, were nutritionally balanced, it was all delicious, and at a reasonable fee for the time. When we schoolmates get together, we still rave about some of the great stuff they served us, how there was enough for guys to get seconds, and how lucky we were. And there were very few overweight children. Kids today have been reared to be picky and spoiled. I have no idea what school lunches look like now, but it sounds a lot different and I know that at some schools everything comes prepackaged to be warmed up. If they were fed decent home cooking as we were, they would probably eat better. But I suppose that is way too expensive.