[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                 EXAMINING THE POLICIES AND PRIORITIES
                OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE'S
                       FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               Before The

                       SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND 
                                HUMAN SERVICES

                                 OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________


             HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, JUNE 23, 2022

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-49

                               __________

    Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Workforce
    
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    


        Available via: edworkforce.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov
        
                               __________

                   U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
58-091 PDF                  WASHINGTON : 2025                  
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------         
      
        
                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

             ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman

RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona            VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut              Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,      JOE WILSON, South Carolina
  Northern Marina Islands            GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA WILSON, Florida            TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon             GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California              ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina        RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK DeSAULNIER, California          JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey          JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania             MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 BURGESS OWENS, Utah
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BOB GOOD, Virginia
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan, Vice Chairman  LISA McCLAIN, Michigan
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota                DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan           MARY MILLER, Illinios
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
MONDAIRE JONES, New York             SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
KATHY MANNING, North Carolina        MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana              MICHELLE STEEL, California
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              CHRIS JACOBS, New York
SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK, Florida  VACANCY
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin                VACANCY
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland

                   Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
                  Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
                                 ------                                

            SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN SERVICES

                  SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon, Chairwoman

ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina           RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut              Ranking Member
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana              LISA McCLAIN, Michigan
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland               SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisonsin
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia  VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina (Ex 
    (Ex Officio)                         Officio)
                         
                         
                         C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on June 23, 2022....................................     1

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

    Bonamici, Hon. Suzanne, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Civil 
      Rights and Human Services..................................     1
        Prepared statement of....................................     4
    Fulcher, Hon. Russ, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Civil 
      Rights and Human Services..................................     5
        Prepared statement of....................................     7

                               WITNESSES

    Long, Cindy, Administrator, U.S. Department of Agriculture's 
      Food and Nutrition Service.................................     8
        Prepared statement of....................................    10

                        QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD

    Responses to questions submitted for the record by:
        Ms. Cindy Long...........................................    31

 
                 EXAMINING THE POLICIES AND PRIORITIES
                       OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
                         AGRICULTURE'S FOOD AND
                           NUTRITION SERVICE

                              ----------                              


                        Thursday, June 23, 2022

                  House of Representatives,
   Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services,
                          Committee on Education and Labor,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., 
2175 Rayburn Building, Hon. Suzanne Bonamici (Chairwoman of the 
Subcommittee) presiding.
    Present: Representatives Bonamici, Adams, Hayes, Leger 
Fernandez, Scott (Ex Officio), Fulcher, Thompson, Fitzgerald, 
and Foxx (Ex Officio).
    Also present: Representative Omar.
    Staff present: Joe Angert, Intern; Brittany Alston, Staff 
Assistant; Jessica Bowen, Professional Staff; Nekea Brown, 
Director of Operations; Ilana Brunner, General Counsel; Nicole 
Franco, Intern; Rasheedah Hasan, Chief Clerk; Sheila Havenner, 
Director of Information; Jayme Holliday, Professional Staff 
Technology; Eli Hovland, Policy Associate; Carrie Hughes, 
Director of Health and Human Services; Yameen Ibrahim, Intern; 
Khari Jenkins, Intern; Camille Keene, Press Intern; Stephanie 
Lalle, Communications Director; Andre Lindsay, Professional 
Staff; Kota Mizutani, Deputy Communications Director; Max 
Moore, Policy Associate; Niaomi MoShier, Press Intern; Isabella 
Paz, CHCI Fellow; Kayla Pennebecker, Staff Assistant; Veronique 
Pluviose, Staff Director; Jessica Schieder, Economic Policy 
Advisor; Dhrtvan Sherman, Staff Assistant; Bob Shull, Senior 
Labor Policy Counsel; Michele Simensky, Oversight Counsel-Labor 
& Health; Sam Varie, Press Secretary; Banyon Vassar, Deputy 
Director of Information Technology; Detario Yancey, Intern; 
ArRone Washington, Clerk/Special Assistant to the Staff 
Director; Tanisha Wilburn, Director of Labor Oversight & 
Counsel; Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director; Cate Dillon, 
Minority Director of Operations; Mini Ganesh, Minority Staff 
Assistant; Hannah Matesic, Minority Director of Operations; 
Audra McGeorge, Minority Communications Director; Eli Mitchell, 
Minority Legislative Assistant; Ethan Pann, Minority Press 
Assistant; Krystina Skurk, Minority Speechwriter; and Mandy 
Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Director of 
Education Policy.
    Chairman Bonamici. The Subcommittee on Civil Rights and 
Human Services will come to order. Welcome everyone. I note 
that a quorum is present. I note for the Subcommittee that Ms. 
Omar of Minnesota is permitted to participate in today's 
hearing, with the understanding that her questions will come 
only after all members of the Civil Rights and Human Services 
Subcommittee on both sides of the aisle who are present, have 
had an opportunity to question the witness.
    The Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on 
examining the policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. This is a hybrid 
hearing pursuant to House Resolution 8 and the regulations 
thereto. All microphones, both in the room and on the platform, 
will be kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary 
background noise. Members and the witness will be responsible 
for unmuting themselves when they are recognized to speak, or 
when they wish to seek recognition.
    When members wish to speak or seek recognition, they should 
unmute themselves and allow a pause of 2 seconds to ensure the 
microphone picks up their speech. I also ask that members 
please identify themselves before they speak. Members who are 
participating in person should not be logged onto the remote 
platform, to avoid feedback, echoes, and distortion. Members 
participating remotely shall be considered present in the 
proceeding when they are visible on camera, and they shall be 
considered not present when they are not visible on camera.
    The only exception to this is if they are experiencing 
technical difficulty and inform the Committee of such 
difficulty. If any member experiences technical difficulty 
during the hearing, you should stay connected on the platform, 
make sure you are muted, and use your phone to immediately call 
the Committee's IT director whose number was provided in 
advance. Should the Chair need to step away for any reason, 
Representative Adams or another majority member is hereby 
authorized to assume the gavel in the Chair's absence.
    To adhere to the Committee's 5-minute rule, staff will be 
keeping track of time using the committee's digital timer on 
the remote platform. For members participating in person, the 
timer will be broadcast in the committee room on the television 
monitor as part of the platform gallery view and visible in its 
own thumbnail window. The Committee room timer will not be in 
use. For members participating remotely, this will be visible 
in the gallery view in its own thumbnail on the remote 
platform.
    Members are asked to wrap up promptly when their time is 
expired. Finally, although the recent guidance from the Office 
of Attending Physician has made mask-wearing optional at this 
time, please know that we have in our midst both at the member 
and staff levels individuals who are immunocompromised, and/or 
who have immediate family members who are immunocompromised, as 
well as who are not vaccinated either due to medical reasons or 
because they have not yet been able to get vaccinations for 
their children under the age of five.
    Therefore, the Committee strongly recommends that masks 
continue to be worn out of concern for the safety of the 
unvaccinated and immunocompromised Committee members and staff 
and their families.
    Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c), opening statements are 
limited to the Chair and the ranking member. This allows us to 
hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all members with 
adequate time to ask questions. I recognize myself now for the 
purpose of making an opening statement.
    Today we are meeting to discuss the Biden-Harris 
administration's priorities for Federal child nutrition 
programs, and the steps they have taken to prevent and address 
child hunger. We can all agree that children need healthy meals 
to learn and grow. Despite this consensus, too many children 
still do not have access to healthy food. In 2018, nearly one 
in every seven households with children struggled to put enough 
food on the table, and as we all know the pandemic exacerbated 
this crisis.
    Just weeks into the pandemic, more than one in every three 
households with children and nearly half of all mothers with 
young children struggled with food insecurity. A year later in 
April 2021, food shortages among households with children fell 
by 42 percent. This was not by happenstance. Congress and the 
Biden-Harris Administration acted decisively to deliver relief 
to families and prevent millions of children from going hungry.
    One of the first relief packages, the Families First 
Coronavirus Response Act, included provisions based on my 
bipartisan COVID-19 Child Nutrition Response Act, which gave 
the USDA critical flexibility to allow schools and community 
partners to deliver meals to families and offer free meals to 
all children through the Summer Food Service Program.
    The bill also created the Pandemic EBT or PEBT so low-
income families who could not physically get to the school meal 
site could still receive funding to help their children. 
Research indicates that the PEBT program has lifted as many as 
3.9 million children out of hunger. I recently visited Chapman 
Elementary School in Portland, Oregon during the lunch hour, 
and I helped serve meals to students.
    It was an important reminder that school nutrition staff 
have been tirelessly working to get meals to kids even with 
inflation and supply chain challenges. In hearing directly from 
an enthusiastic group of third graders about why it is 
important for every student to have access to healthy meals, 
was an important reminder that our actions here in this 
committee room have tremendous consequences for the families 
and children we represent.
    I am excited that today the House will vote on the 
bipartisan Keep Kids Fed Act, to extend flexibilities from the 
Families First Act, and allow schools to continue serving 
children healthy meals. Without congressional action, many of 
these useful flexibilities will expire on June 30th, 
potentially stripping millions of children's access to school 
meals. Unfortunately, we know that some of the most vulnerable 
families in our communities are facing additional challenges. 
After Abbott Nutrition, one of the country's largest formula 
manufacturers recalled many of its formula products, families 
across the country with young children struggled to find 
formula they needed.
    In response, Congress passed the Access to Baby Formula 
Act, to make sure that low-income families that use WIC 
Benefits can continue purchasing safe infant formula in times 
of crisis, such as supply chain disruptions. In Oregon, this 
legislation provides more than 10,000 infants with better 
access to formula. Despite the accomplishments we have made, we 
have much more work ahead to keep children from going hungry. 
We must provide urgent relief to help families address the 
rising costs of everyday goods and deliver sustained support to 
families, to help finally eliminate child hunger.
    To that end, House Democrats and a handful of Republicans 
passed the Lower Food and Fuel Cost Act, which will shore up 
the food and agriculture supply chain and lower the cost of 
goods at the grocery store. I will note that most of my 
Republican colleagues opposed this legislation. I ask my 
colleagues critical of our attempts to lower costs not to just 
oppose our efforts, but please work with us and offer solutions 
to help families put food on the table. I also invite my 
colleagues to join Democrats in passing a comprehensive 
science-driven Federal child nutrition reauthorization.
    Regrettably, the underlying Federal laws that authorize 
Federal child nutrition programs expired in 2015. 
Reauthorization is critical to addressing child hunger, and I 
hope my Republican colleagues will join Democrats to pass a 
comprehensive Federal child nutrition reauthorization. The 
lessons learned from our response to COVID-19 reaffirm that 
when we invest in child nutrition programs, we keep children 
from going hungry.
    That is a good investment in the short-term and the long-
term, and I want to reiterate a simple fact: to eliminate child 
hunger, we must deliver sustained investments in our child 
nutrition programs. Thank you, Administrator Long for all you 
do for our Nation's children. Together, I am confident we can 
help children reach their full potential, and I now recognize 
Ranking Member, the distinguished Ranking Member, for the 
purpose of making an opening statement.
    [The Statement of Chairwoman Bonamici follows:]

 Statement of Hon. Suzanne Bonamici, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Civil 
                       Rights and Human Services

    Today, we are meeting to discuss the Biden-Harris Administration's 
priorities for federal child nutrition programs and the steps they have 
taken to prevent and address child hunger.
    We can all agree that children need healthy meals to learn and 
grow. Despite this consensus, too many children still do not have 
access to healthy food. In 2018, nearly one in every seven households 
with children struggled to put enough food on the table.
    As we all know, the pandemic exacerbated this crisis. Just weeks 
into the pandemic, more than one in every three households with 
children and nearly half of all mothers with young children struggled 
with food insecurity. A year later, in April 2021, food shortages among 
households with children fell by 42 percent.
    This was not by happenstance. Congress and the Biden-Harris 
Administration acted decisively to deliver relief to families and 
prevent millions of children from going hungry.
    One of the first relief packages--the Families First Coronavirus 
Response Act--included provisions based on my bipartisan COVID-19 Child 
Nutrition Response Act, which gave the USDA critical flexibility to 
allow schools and community partners to deliver meals to families and 
offer free meals to all children through the Summer Food Service 
Program.
    The bill also created the Pandemic EBT program, or P-EBT, so low-
income families that could not physically get to school meal sites 
could still receive funding to help their children. Research indicates 
that the P-EBT program has lifted as many as 3.9 million children out 
of hunger.
    I recently visited Chapman Elementary School in Portland, Oregon 
during the lunch hour and I helped serve meals to students. It was an 
important reminder that school nutrition staff have been tirelessly 
working to get meals to kids, even with inflation and supply chain 
challenges. Hearing directly from an enthusiastic group of third 
graders about why it is important for every student to have access to 
healthy meals was an important reminder that our actions here in this 
committee room have tremendous consequences for the families and 
children we represent.
    I am excited that, today, the House will vote on the bipartisan 
Keep Kids Fed Act to extend flexibilities from the Families First Act 
and allow schools to continue serving children healthy meals. Without 
Congressional action, many of these useful flexibilities will expire on 
June 30, potentially stripping millions of children's access to school 
meals.
    Unfortunately, we know some of the most vulnerable families in our 
communities are facing additional challenges. After Abbott Nutrition--
one of the country's largest formula manufacturers--recalled many of 
its formula products, families across the country with young children 
struggled to find formula they needed. In response, Congress passed the 
Access to Baby Formula Act to make sure that low-income families that 
use WIC benefits can continue purchasing safe infant formula in times 
of crisis, such as supply chain disruptions. In Oregon, this 
legislation provides more than 10,000 infants with better access to 
formula.
    Despite the accomplishments we have made, we have much more work 
ahead to keep children from going hungry. We must provide urgent relief 
to help families address the rising costs of everyday goods and deliver 
sustained support to families to help finally eliminate child hunger.
    To that end, House Democrats and a handful of Republicans passed 
the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, which will shore up the food and 
agriculture supply chain and lower the cost of goods at the grocery 
store.
    I will note that most of my Republican colleagues opposed this 
legislation. I ask my colleagues critical of our attempts to lower 
costs not to just oppose our efforts, but please work with us and offer 
solutions to help families put food on the table.
    I also invite my colleagues to join Democrats in passing a 
comprehensive, science-driven federal child nutrition reauthorization.
    Regrettably, the underlying federal laws that authorize federal 
child nutrition programs expired in 2015. Reauthorization is critical 
to addressing child hunger, and I hope that my Republican colleagues 
will join Democrats to pass a comprehensive federal child nutrition 
reauthorization.
    The lessons learned from our response to COVID-19 reaffirm that, 
when we invest in child nutrition programs, we keep children from going 
hungry. That is a good investment in the short-term and the long-term.
    I want to reiterate a simple fact-to eliminate child hunger, we 
must deliver these sustained investments in our child nutrition 
programs.
    Thank you, again, Administrator Long, for all you do for our 
nation's children. Together, I am confident we can help children reach 
their full potential.
                                 ______
                                 
    Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Madam Chair. Hope your health is 
recovering and I look forward to seeing you back in the chair 
in the office soon. All the best to you.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Fulcher. Thank you.
    Mr. Fulcher. Committee Republicans understand the 
importance of ensuring children are well-fed during the school 
day, and we recognize the importance of reaching students that 
are truly in need with the benefits of school-provided 
nutritional programs. However, as we exit this pandemic, 
creating permanent changes to school nutrition programs without 
first determining if such changes are needed is nonsensical. 
Before these programs are reauthorized, we need to validate 
which aspects of these programs work and which do not. The 
majority party has used the pandemic as a springboard to expand 
Federal control, thereby increasing spending into seemingly 
every aspect of American life, including school lunch programs.
    Prior to the pandemic, child nutrition programs provided 
approximately 30 million lunches and 14 million school 
breakfasts every school day, and the need to assess these 
programs in the post-pandemic era remains. We saw Congress and 
the previous administration move quickly to help ensure needy 
students had access to food and did not miss a meal. We need to 
make sure these programs move forward under normal operation.
    Taxpayer funds should be used to help students in real 
need. Allowing wealthy families to take advantage of school 
lunch programs is not responsible use of taxpayer dollars. 
Instead, we should look for ways to strengthen the programs by 
learning the lessons of the pandemic from people operating 
under the nutrition program's rules. There should be 
concentrated efforts from USDA, states and schools to help 
parents transition back to regular operations, including the 
filling out of applications to determine free and reduced-price 
eligibility.
    This also means not overburdening the programs with new 
challenges. Once again, the administration is looking to 
overhaul the meal pattern regulations with more Federal 
control. The last time the Secretary did this, the final rule 
added billions in taxpayer expenses to schools and led to such 
significant challenges that some of the requirements had to be 
waived just to make the programs work.
    It is just not right to increase costs, add complexity or 
pursue pet projects. This should be a time the USDA should 
listen to the local folks on the ground and learn from the 
challenges the pandemic taught us. We're also concerned about 
the administration's recent Title IX guidance. We are concerned 
the administration plans to hold school lunch programs hostage 
unless schools capitulate to controversial gender policies.
    Boys and girls get hungry. As school nutrition relates to 
the gender, that is the only guideline we need. The nutrition 
of children should not be used as a tool to advance the Biden 
Administration's progressive agenda. This all underscores that 
we need more transparency from the administration about how 
this new guidance will apply to nutrition programs, and how it 
will impact faith-based providers participating in the 
programs.
    The Biden Administration has already targeted faith-based 
entities in other areas. I would hate to see children suffer 
because of this administration's vindictive and biased 
policies. Last, this administration must insert some 
commonsense intelligence to the baby formula shortage issue, or 
at least get out of the way of the market. For the week of May 
22 to 29, the out-of-stock rate for baby formula was 73.5 
percent. Yes, that is 73.5 percent in America for baby formula.
    These are not rocket components for microprocessors; it is 
baby formula, and it is unacceptable. If we cannot solve this 
problem, heaven help us on issues with complexity. Parents and 
caregivers across the country should not have to wake up in the 
morning not knowing if they are going to be able to feed their 
babies. The USDA does not have control over the FDA, but it is 
imperative the administration and its agencies work together to 
solve it.
    I am glad we were able to pass H.R. 7791, the bipartisan 
Access to Baby Formula Act, but this bill alone will not solve 
the crisis. We must secure our baby formula supply chain, so 
this never happens again. In the meantime, this Committee would 
like to hear from the Biden Administration on how this crisis 
has impacted WIC participants. Americans need answers. Madam 
Chair, I yield back.
    [The Statement of Ranking Member Fulcher follows:]

 Statement of Hon. Russ Fulcher, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Civil 
                       Rights and Human Services

    Committee Republicans understand the importance of ensuring 
children are well fed during the school day and we recognize the 
importance of reaching students that are truly in need with the 
benefits of school-provided nutrition programs. However, as we exit 
this pandemic, creating permanent changes to school nutrition programs 
without first determining if such changes are needed is nonsensical. 
Before these programs are reauthorized, we need to validate which 
aspects of these programs work and which don't.
    The majority party has used the pandemic as a springboard to expand 
federal control (thereby increasing spending) into seemingly every 
aspect of American life including school lunch programs. Prior to the 
pandemic, child nutrition programs provided approximately 30 million 
lunches and 14 million school breakfasts every school day. The need to 
assess these programs in the `post-pandemic' era remains.
    We saw Congress and the previous administration move quickly to 
help ensure needy students had access to food and did not miss a meal. 
We need to make sure these programs move forward under normal 
operation. Taxpayer funds should be used to help students in real need. 
Allowing wealthy families to take advantage of school lunch programs is 
not a responsible use of taxpayer dollars. Instead, we should look for 
ways to strengthen the programs by learning the lessons of the pandemic 
from people operating under the nutrition program's rules.
    There should be concentrated efforts from USDA, states, and schools 
to help parents transition back to regular operations including the 
filling out of applications to determine free and reduced price 
eligibility.
    This also means not over burdening the programs with new 
challenges. Once again, the administration is looking to overhaul the 
meal pattern regulations with more federal control. The last time the 
Secretary did this the final rule added billions in taxpayer expenses 
to schools and led to such significant challenges that some of the 
requirements had to be waived just to make the programs work. It is 
just not right to increase costs, add complexity, or pursue pet 
projects.This should be a time the USDA should to listen to the local 
folks on the ground and learn from the challenges the pandemic taught 
us.
    We are also concerned about the administration's recent Title IX 
guidance. We are concerned the administration plans to hold school 
lunch programs hostage unless schools capitulate to controversial 
gender policies. Boys and girls get hungry. As school nutrition relates 
to the gender; that is the only guideline we need. The nutrition of 
children should not be used as a tool to advance the Biden 
administration's progressive agenda.
    This all underscores why we need more transparency from the 
administration about how this new guidance will apply to nutrition 
programs, and how it will impact faith-based providers participating in 
the programs. The Biden administration has already targeted faith-based 
entities in other areas, and I would hate to see children suffer 
because of this administration's vindictive and biased policies.
    Lastly, this administration must insert some common-sense 
intelligence into the baby formula shortage issue, or at least get out 
of the way of the market. For the week of May 22-29, the out-of-stock 
rate for baby formula was 73.5 percent. Yes, that is 73.5 percent. In 
America. For baby formula. These are not rocket components or 
microprocessors, its baby formula. This is unacceptable. If we cannot 
solve this problem, heaven help us on issues with complexity.
    Parents and caregivers across the country should not have to wake 
up in the morning not knowing if they are going to be able to feed 
their babies. USDA does not have control over the FDA, but it is 
imperative the administration and its agencies work together to solve 
it.
    I am glad we were able to pass H.R. 7791, the bipartisan Access to 
Baby Formula Act, but this bill alone will not solve the crisis. We 
must secure our baby formula supply chains so this never happens again. 
In the meantime, this Committee would like to hear from the Biden 
administration on how this crisis has impacted WIC participants. 
Americans need answers.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Ranking Member Fulcher. 
Without objection, all other members who wish to insert 
statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the 
Committee Clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5 
p.m. on July the 7th. I will now introduce the witness. Ms. 
Cindy Long is the administrator of the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. She previously served 
as the Food and Nutrition Service, she previously served the 
Food and Nutrition Service in other roles including deputy 
administrator for FNS Child Nutrition Programs.
    Ms. Long earned an MPA in Public Policy in Economics from 
Princeton University's School of Public and International 
Affairs and a BA in Economics from the University of Notre 
Dame. Ms. Long, you are recognized for 5 minutes for your 
testimony.

          STATEMENT OF CINDY LONG, ADMINISTRATOR, USDA

    Ms. Long. Thank you, Chair Bonamici.
    Chairman Bonamici. Excuse me Ms. Long, before I begin, I do 
need to say that we appreciate the witness for participating 
today and look forward to your testimony. Let me remind the 
witness that we have read your written statement. It will 
appear in full in the hearing record, and pursuant to Committee 
Rule 8(d) and Committee practice, you are asked to limit your 
oral presentation to a 5-minute summary of your written 
statement.
    Before you begin, please remember to unmute your 
microphone, which I know you did. During your testimony, staff 
will be keeping track of time, and the timer will be visible to 
you at the witness table. Please be attentive to time and wrap 
up when your time is over. We will let you make your 
presentation before we move to member questions and when 
answering a question, please remember to unmute your 
microphone.
    The witness is aware of her responsibility to provide 
accurate information to the Subcommittee, and therefore we will 
now proceed with her testimony. My apologies again, 
Administrator Long you are recognized.
    Ms. Long. Thank you, Chair Bonamici, Ranking Member Fulcher 
and members of the Subcommittee for inviting me to join you 
today. I am Cindy Long, and I am the administrator of USDA's 
Food and Nutrition Service. Before I start, I want to thank you 
all for your commitment to FNS programs and to America's 
children.
    I want to focus my limited time on several current 
challenges facing WIC and child nutrition, and I hope we'll 
have a chance to talk more about all the other efforts underway 
to strengthen the programs for the long term as well. As 
members of this Subcommittee are well aware, WIC and the child 
nutrition programs are highly effective and impactful. For 
example, there is strong evidence that WIC participation leads 
to positive outcomes, fewer infant deaths, fewer premature 
births and increased birth weights. It saves money on health 
care costs and also leads to better health and academic 
outcomes for children.
    The share of eligible families participating in WIC has 
been declining over the past decade, and it currently stands at 
only about 50 percent. That is why with the investment that 
Congress made in the American Rescue Plan Act, we are infusing 
the program with resources to spur modernization and innovation 
that will help mothers and children for generations to come. We 
are committed to reversing a decline in participation and 
enhancing service delivery with a focus on improving equity and 
reducing health disparities.
    Top of mind for all of us and for families across the 
country is addressing the effect of the infant formula shortage 
for WIC families. From the moment that the FDA alerted us to 
the recall, USDA has been working day and night as part of an 
all of government response to ensure that WIC families have 
access to formula. Within 3 days, we issued over 100 waivers to 
allow WIC recipients to exchange formula and purchase 
alternatives.
    We continue to work with WIC's State agencies and Federal 
partners, most recently to ensure that WIC can benefit from the 
new supply coming in from overseas. We are very grateful to the 
Committee for its leadership in passing the bipartisan Access 
to Baby Formula Act, which has supported us in our current 
activities and will give us authority in the future to respond 
to emergencies.
    We will continue to work closely with our Federal and 
private sector partners to prioritize WIC families in our 
response. Similarly, we are working hand in hand with our child 
nutrition partners to address the pressing challenges that they 
face. Since March 2020, Congress provided USDA with wide 
latitude and resources for child nutrition programs, and we've 
deployed them to help operators continue to feed kids. We are 
very glad that children are back in school, but school meal 
programs do still face tremendous challenges caused by supply 
chain disruptions, cost increases and labor challenges. They 
will undoubtedly need transitional support and flexibility.
    These programs typically operate on very slim margins, and 
they are struggling to afford everything they need in very 
tight markets. That is why we asked Congress to extend the 
waiver authority and provide schools with the financial and 
operational support they need to get through this upcoming 
transitional school year. We are very pleased to see that 
bipartisan Child Nutrition is moving through Congress, which 
will provide some additional financial and operational support 
to schools and other program operators.
    This support will be extremely important, but there is no 
denying that it is nonetheless going to be a challenging year. 
Schools will be managing with fewer resources than they have in 
recent years, while transitioning back to standard operations, 
including collecting and processing applications. There really 
has never been a more important time to rally around child 
nutrition programs.
    USDA is doing everything we can using every authority we 
have to help schools navigate the transition, but it will take 
a collective effort by Congress, by USDA, by local school 
administrators, by parents and industry and others to maintain 
the strength of our school meals programs. I have worked in 
child nutrition for a very long time, but I will say I have 
never been prouder to be associated with school meals than I 
have in recent years.
    Seeing school nutrition programs put themselves at risk, 
work tirelessly to ensure that children could access nutritious 
meals despite everything going on around them, it really tells 
you what these folks are made of. They do it for a good reason. 
School meals play a pivotal role in our children's health and 
well-being. For many of the 30 million children that 
participate on an average day, school breakfast and lunch make 
up about half of what they eat. We know that nutritious meals 
can make a meaningful difference in kids' success at school. 
When we move the needle on the nutrition quality of school 
meals even a little bit, we can expect significant impacts for 
millions of children.
    There is so much more critically important work going on in 
WIC and child nutrition. We are updating WIC food packages to 
reflect the latest evidence. We are engaging extensively with 
stakeholders to inform a long-term update on nutrition 
standards and school meals, and we are acting on several fronts 
to make WIC Online a reality. Despite the challenges in front 
of us, we will keep working to strengthen WIC and the child 
nutrition programs for the long term, because we know without a 
doubt how critical healthy food is for kids.
    Thank you again for having me, and I look forward to our 
dialog.
    [The prepared statement of Cindy Long follows:]

  Statement of Cindy Long, Administrator, United States Department of 
                              Agriculture

    Thank you, Chairwoman Bonamici, Ranking Member Fulcher, and Members 
of the Subcommittee for the invitation to join you today to discuss the 
policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food 
and Nutrition Service. I am Cindy Long, the Administrator of the Food 
and Nutrition Service (FNS) at USDA. In this role I am responsible for 
administering America's nutrition assistance programs, which ensure 
every American has access to the food they need, even during difficult 
times. I want to start by thanking you for your commitment to these 
programs and to America's children.
    I know the Members of the Subcommittee are well-versed in the 
impact and importance of the Child Nutrition Programs and of the 
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and 
Children--or WIC. These programs are highly effective at connecting 
parents and caregivers, babies, and children with nutritious food and 
promoting good nutrition so that parents and caregivers can take steps 
to support their children's health, growth, and development.
    In my testimony, I want to highlight the power and reach of these 
programs, how they have adapted to meet the moment during the pandemic, 
and to talk about short and long-term challenges and opportunities.
Child Nutrition and WIC: A Record of Success
    Prior to the pandemic, about 30 million students relied on school 
meals to get the nutrition they need to grow and learn, including 
nearly 22 million from low-income families that received these meals 
free or at reduced price. For many children, school breakfast and lunch 
make up about half of what they eat every day, and we know that access 
to nutritious mealsmakes a difference for our kids' success in the 
classroom. When we move the needle on nutrition in school meals, we can 
expect to see meaningful impacts for millions of children.
    The National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, Summer Food 
Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program provide critical 
nutrition to tens of millions of children every day, while exposing 
them to healthy foods and nurturing healthy habits they can carry 
throughout their lives.
    The WIC program is one of the nation's most important and cost-
effective public health programs. There is strong evidence that 
participation in WIC leads to better pregnancy outcomes--fewer infant 
deaths, fewer premature births, and increased birth weights--and saves 
money on health care costs. It also leads to better health and academic 
outcomes for children.
Responding to the Pandemic: A Collective Effort
    The pandemic has shined a light on just how essential and impactful 
these programs are. The past few years have presented challenges to the 
WIC and school meal programs that no one could have imagined. I applaud 
Congress for recognizing the extraordinary need and acting quickly to 
address it--not just once, but in five separate pieces of legislation 
over the past two years, and another in just the past month. Together, 
we have taken bold action to help ensure our children and families can 
safely access healthy food they depend on through Child Nutrition 
Programs and WIC.
    USDA has capitalized fully on the authorities Congress provided and 
has taken aggressive action to support states and local program 
operators in the critical mission of nourishing our children. We 
adapted program rules to respond to extraordinary circumstances and 
provided operational flexibilities to simplify program administration 
and support social distancing.
    WIC serves families at a time in life when proper nutrition is 
particularly important and highly specialized. Ensuring moms, babies, 
and young children can easily access WIC without interruption is 
critical for healthy pregnancies and births, and WIC helps lay a 
healthy foundation for infants and young children as they grow. To 
ensure these families did not lose access in the pandemic, we quickly 
adjusted requirements for the food package, the certification process, 
and how we provided nutrition education. Congress also increased WIC 
cash value vouchers for fruits and vegetables for moms and children.
    In school meals, we provided operational flexibilities to support 
flexible meal service options like ``grab and go'' and parent pickup 
and flexibilities around meal pattern and nutrition requirements where 
needed. Very importantly, supplemental appropriations and waiver 
authority provided by Congress have allowed us to provide additional 
funding by allowingschools to serve free meals to all students and 
increasing reimbursement rates. All told, we provided an estimated $11 
billion in additional funds for the past school year for school 
districts to maintain meal service in the face of significant 
obstacles.
    Since March 2020, school nutrition and education professionals 
across the country have worked tirelessly to make sure that children 
have access to meals despite unprecedented challenges. They have 
utilized the tools we provided in remarkable ways to feed children--
delivering meals along school bus routes, allowing parents to pick up a 
weeks' worth of meals at a time, and entering into public-private 
partnerships to provide meals to children in rural areas. We all owe a 
debt of gratitude to the many thousands of dedicated school nutrition 
professionals and administrators who have spent, and continue to spend, 
long hours going above and beyond the call of duty so that kids can 
eat.
    Overall, these efforts have made a huge difference and underscore 
how powerful the federal nutrition programs can be in response to 
hunger and hardship. Our work is not done--these programs are facing 
new challenges, and your support is more critical than ever. We have to 
work together to preserve and strengthen these programs going forward.
Child Nutrition Market Disruptions
    Although nearly all schools are providing in-person instruction, 
supply chain disruptions, along with cost increases and labor 
challenges, have posed significant new challenges for schools. During 
this past school year, FNS surveyed all school districts nationwide to 
better understand the scale and nature of supply chain issues facing 
districts, and about 92 percent reported challenges due to supply chain 
disruptions. They reported facing challenges finding enough of the 
foods they need, hiring staff to operate the programs, and 
accommodating cost increases. We have engaged extensively with a range 
of stakeholders, including program operators, school food industry 
representatives, and others to understand the challenges they face 
daily on the ground, and we will continue this engagement as we look to 
how best to support them.
    The nationwide waiver authority Congress provided for Child 
Nutrition Programs expires on June 30, 2022. We remain disappointed 
that Congress has not extended the waiver authority that would allow us 
to continue to provide much-needed resources and flexibilities to help 
schools and summer programs continue to provide nutritious meals to 
children despite major ongoing challenges. We know that schools are 
still facing tremendous challenges and desperately still need stability 
and time to transition back to a non-pandemic school meals model. That 
is why we have asked Congress to extend the waiver authority through 
next year to support our schools through this challenging time.
    To be sure, USDA is doing everything we can within the resources 
and authorities we have to help schools navigate the rocky terrain:

          Offering limited waivers under our permanent 
        authority, like allowing schools and program operators to 
        provide ``grab and go'' meals when needed due to COVID, 
        allowing off-site monitoring reviews, and waiving some data 
        reporting requirements;
          Making $1.5 billion available to support school meals 
        through USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation, including $300 
        million for states to purchase additional USDA Foods 
        commodities for use in school food service, and $200 million 
        for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program 
        for states to purchase local food for schools;
          Collaborating with the Departments of Education and 
        Treasury to highlight how state and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund 
        and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds 
        provided to states and localities may be used to support school 
        meals; and
          Streamlining the waiver request process to reduce 
        burden on states.

    The reality is, without continued waiver authority, our toolkit is 
very limited. We will not be able to offer the full range of waivers--
including providing all meals at higher reimbursement rates that are 
currently available to schools, child care providers, and summer meal 
providers. These waivers have provided schools with critical financial 
support to cover their additional costs. We know that what we are able 
to offer simply does not address all of the challenges that schools and 
other operators will face.
    Schools will face an abrupt return to standard program operations 
in the fall, along with a dramatic reduction in financial support. At 
the same time, schools are struggling to operate within a supply 
constrained marketplace, and increased labor costs or labor shortages. 
School meal programs traditionally operate on very tight margins and 
are struggling to find suppliers to continue to support them at 
affordable prices. School districts report major challenges with 
obtaining critical supplies and food items on a consistent basis with 
reliable delivery schedules. Some districts are getting no responses to 
bids for next year, and some suppliers are reportedly exiting the 
market.
    Schools will also face transition challenges as they return to 
regular program operations, including uncertainty about participation 
levels as well as concern about rising unpaid meal debt associated with 
the return to meal applications.Traditionally, we have seen strong 
bipartisan support for school meals. We hope that Members will return 
to the table to provide school meal programs the support they 
desperately need. We will certainly use every tool we have available to 
help, and we are committed to moving forward together to ensure kids 
get the nutritious meals they need and deserve.
Helping WIC Navigate Infant Formula Recall
    Although not the focus of this hearing, I do want to address the 
FNS response to the current infant formula recall and its impact on 
WIC. From the moment we were alerted to the recall by our colleagues at 
the Food and Drug Administration, FNS has been working day and night as 
part of an all-of-government response to ensure that WIC families have 
access to infant formula during this time. Within three days of the 
recall, we issued more than 100 waivers to allow WIC recipients to 
exchange recalled formula and access alternative products. The 
flexibility offered by these waivers provided encouragement and a basis 
for US manufacturers to quickly ramp up production and fill the gaps in 
the WIC market generated by the Abbott recall. In addition, due to 
USDA's efforts, Abbott agreed to offer rebates for all formula 
purchased in Abbott-contract states through the end of August. I want 
to thank this Committee for acting quickly to pass the bipartisan 
Access to Baby Formula Act, which has expanded our flexibility to deal 
with the current situation and provided us with permanent authority to 
respond to future emergencies. We will continue to work closely with 
our federal and private sector partners toprioritize WIC families in 
our response.
Improving Child Health and Nutrition Security through WIC and Child 
        Nutrition
    The difficult circumstances we are all navigating together offer a 
unique opportunity for our country to build back better than ever 
before. I will turn to a few key efforts we are focused on to do just 
that.
    Despite the formidable challenges in front of us, we have to 
continue working to strengthen WIC and the child nutrition programs in 
the long-term because we know, without a doubt, how critical healthy 
food is for kids.
    Today, one in five American children are obese, and research shows 
that childhood obesity increases the likelihood of adult obesity and 
associated health risks, creating financial burdens on families and the 
health care system. Evidence shows that strong nutrition standards 
work, and we are building on the remarkable progress made over the past 
decade in supporting nutrition security for America's families.
    We are currently in the process of updating the WIC food packages 
to include recommendations from the National Academies of Science, 
Engineering, and Medicine's scientific report and reflect the latest 
Dietary Guidelines. We will publish proposed regulations this year that 
are rooted in evidence and will ensure each WIC food package provides 
the highest level of nutrition for WIC families.
    Together, we have made tremendous strides in child nutrition since 
the passage of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010. In fact, a 
study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 
during the past decade, school meals became the most nutritious source 
of meals for American children.
    A USDA study found that, since meal standards were revised in 2012, 
school meals have gotten healthier and children are eating better in 
schools. Children who ate school lunches were more likely to consume 
milk, fruits, and vegetables and less likely to consume refined grains 
and empty calories than those who brought lunch from home. Importantly, 
the study showedthose gains were equitably distributed across 
sociodemographic groups.
    Building on progress made on improving the nutrition standards of 
school meals, USDA will be proposing long-term updates to school meal 
nutrition standards in a way that puts children's health at the 
forefront and that is practical for schools. We have put into place 
transitional nutritional standards that provide stability and a clear 
path forward for schools as they rebound from the pandemic. USDA is 
committed to continuing to bolster child nutrition through strong meal 
standards in a manner that is both science-based and achievable in the 
school environment. We are committed to providing the supports schools 
need to continue to provide the healthiest meals possible. We would 
welcome your partnership as we work to support schools and school 
nutrition professionals in this important endeavor. While it is not 
easy to change kids' eating habits and schools face real challenges, 
the future payoffs of even incremental changes are extraordinary.
    To this end, we recently announced the new $100 million ``Healthy 
Food Incentive Fund'' as part of USDA's Food System Transformation 
framework. It will support innovation and creativity in school 
districts, accelerating their efforts to improve the nutritional 
quality of school meals to children.
    These efforts are central to our efforts to promote nutrition 
security-ensuring all Americans have consistent access to the safe, 
healthy, affordable food essential to optimal health and well-being.
Tackling the Summer Hunger Gap
    When schools close for the summer, we know there is a summer hunger 
gap--hunger increases when children cannot access to school meals. 
Typically, fewer than 1 in 5 eligible children get meals through summer 
feeding programs. We know how to solve this problem. Rigorous 
evaluation of summer EBT pilots showed compelling impacts. Summer EBT 
cuts the most severe form of childhood hunger by one-third. It is a 
model that works.
    When the pandemic hit, Congress deployed this proven-effective 
model and created Pandemic EBT (P-EBT), a similar program that provides 
food dollars to families to make up for meals missed by free or 
reduced-price eligible children due to COVID. Thanks to extraordinary 
efforts by states, P-EBT has helped millions of children across the 
country. Congress also had the foresight to extend P-EBT into summer 
months, providing the opportunity to see the model work at full scale. 
For the first time last summer, resource-strapped families nationwide 
received EBT cards to buy groceries to provide meals for their children 
in the months when school is not in session.
    We know that summer hunger will not disappear when the public 
health emergency ends. That is why the President has proposed investing 
in making this proven-effective program permanent. This would 
dramatically reduce child hunger and ensure that we reach children 
without easy access to summer meal sites, as we see in many rural areas 
of the country. For the coming summer, we have streamlined the process 
to support states and territories in getting plans approved quickly to 
allow them to provide benefits for this summer. We received our first 
summer plan request on May 19, and, as of today, we have approved seven 
with more to expected in the coming days. Supporting states in this 
effort is one of FNS' top priorities.
Investing in WIC Innovation and Modernization
    WIC is one of the nation's premier public health programs, helping 
pregnant women, infants, and young children access the healthy food and 
nutrition education they need to start their lives thriving. Despite 
its remarkable capacity however, only about half of those who are 
eligible participate in WIC. We know we have work to do--modernizing 
the program toimprove the experience of participants through 
investments in technology and innovative approaches to both the clinic 
and shopping experiences, including pilots to enable participants to 
purchase WIC foods online, including infant formula.
    Through the historic investment Congress made in the American 
Rescue Plan Act, FNS is implementing the WIC Innovation and 
Modernization effort, taking a close look at all aspects of the WIC 
program to ensure all eligible WIC families know about the program 
through improved communication channels and approaches and can access 
it easily through improved use of technology in the certification, 
nutrition education, and shopping experiences. We are doing this in a 
way that emphasizes equity, striving to break down some of the barriers 
that throughout history have resulted in disparate health outcomes for 
people of color and other vulnerable populations.
    FNS recently announced the Community Innovation and Outreach 
project. FNS and its nonprofit partner will develop innovative outreach 
strategies and test them at the local level to ensure we are reaching 
underserved populations effectively and in ways that resonate with 
their needs. This effort will complement a national public health 
campaign, focused on helping the public, including and pregnant women 
and mothers, better understand how WIC can improve their health and 
help them get healthy foods when they are pregnant and have young 
children.
    Through efforts like these, FNS is committing to reaching families 
by ensuring we are developing outreach and communication tools that 
speak to families' needs and experiences. In the coming months, we will 
take steps to improve the WIC shopping experience--in-store, at 
farmers' markets and expanding online shopping opportunities.
Conclusion
    I know we share the same goal--ensuring that all children can get 
the healthy, nutritious food they need to thrive. This Subcommittee has 
a long history of bipartisan support for these programs, and I am eager 
to work with you to advance our shared goals and to build on the 
success of these programs through Child Nutrition Reauthorization. 
Thank you again forinviting me to join you today.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Administrator Long. Under 
Committee Rule 9(a), we will now question the witness under the 
5-minute rule. I will be recognizing Committee members in 
seniority order. Again, to ensure the members' 5-minute rule is 
adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time. Please be 
attentive to the time and wrap up when your time is over, and 
then re-mute your microphone. As Chair, I now recognize myself 
for 5 minutes.
    Administrator Long, the Summer EBT program has been a 
lifeline for many families that cannot afford groceries for 
their children. As it currently stands, the program will expire 
when the Federal public health emergency ends. The Biden 
Administration has proposed making Summer EBT nationwide and 
permanent, which will do a lot to address food insecurities for 
families across the Nation. Can you please highlight what 
Summer EBT has meant to families that struggle to get food on 
the table during the summer months, and how FNS plans to 
address summer EBT in the future?
    Ms. Long. Sorry, I very much appreciate the question. As 
you note, Summer EBT has been proven to have demonstrable 
impacts on reducing hunger in the summer. We had the 
opportunity for gosh, about a decade prior to the pandemic, to 
operate pilots in a number of states and in tribal communities, 
and evaluate them rigorously, and we found that Summer EBT can 
reduce summer hunger by approximately a third.
    It is an extraordinarily powerful program. We also know 
that current summer feeding programs, while extremely important 
and impactful to those who can access them, are not always 
available to children in the summer. Over the years, our 
ability to reach kids who qualify for free and reduced-price 
meals in the summer has hovered somewhere between reaching one 
in four and one in five. Clearly the Summer EBT model provides 
a path forward. Congress showed great foresight in including a 
Summer EBT component to the pandemic EBT program that was stood 
up as part of COVID relief, and we have had the opportunity to 
operate nationwide summer program last year, and we are doing 
absolutely everything we can to encourage states to operate 
programs this year as well.
    I personally have been really excited to see that the 
standing up of these Summer EBT programs as part of Pandemic 
EBT has really allowed us to see that statewide programs using 
this model, are feasible, and they can work very well to 
support children. We would be happy to work with Congress 
further to consider the future of the program.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Administrator. The Child and 
Adult Care Food Program, CACFP, is an important part of our 
care economy. Last year, I reintroduced the bipartisan Early 
Childhood Nutrition Improvement Act, which would provide 
reimbursement for an additional meal or snack and CACFP reduced 
paperwork streamlined program operations, and helped childcare 
providers continue to operate effectively. Can you talk about 
the importance of strengthening and expanding CACFP, a program 
that currently serves almost five million children?
    Administrator Long, in addition to passing the Early 
Childhood Nutrition Improvement Act, what could Congress do to 
improve CACFP and better support the childcare infrastructure?
    Ms. Long. Well, I could not agree with you more about the 
importance of CACFP. I spent the first 5 years of my career at 
FNS working on the program. I know what an important support it 
is for childcare, and I also need to say that the Biden-Harris 
Administration, a top priority is supporting the expansion of 
high-quality childcare for working families. CACFP is a 
tremendously important support for that. In terms of what we 
can to further strengthen the program, I do want to acknowledge 
that the legislation that is being considered today would 
provide additional reimbursement for all CACFP meals. It would 
expand eligibility to the family daycare home part of the 
program in a more attractive way.
    That is an area where we have, very concerningly seen a 
reduction over, a consistent reduction over time in the number 
of family daycare homes that participate in that program, and 
that is something I would welcome the opportunity to work with 
you to reverse.
    Chairman Bonamici. Well, thank you, Administrator, and I 
have just another minute. I wanted to ask you about--I just 
recently visited a food coop here in Oregon that is 
participating in the Double Up Food Bucks Program, so thanks to 
the USDA. How is the Healthy Food Incentive Fund working to 
improve school nutrition programs?
    Ms. Long. Well, I would be happy to get back to you and 
provide a little bit more detail about how the Healthy 
Incentive Fund works to improve programs. As you noted, one of 
the key activities under that Fund is to help support programs 
that incentivize healthier eating, such as the Double Up 
program.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, and I am going to set a good 
example for the rest of the Committee members and yield back 
the balance of my time. I now recognize Ranking Member Fulcher 
for the purpose of questioning.
    Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ms. Long, thank you 
for your testimony, for being here today. A couple of 
questions. First, the Secretary recently announced a $100 
million program that was created to, I will use the quote 
``create a new Healthy Food Incentive Fund.'' Can you talk to 
me about that a little bit? Admittedly it kind of sounds like a 
slush fund, but talk to me about what is that--what is that 
being used for?
    Ms. Long. Yes. The Healthy Food Incentive Fund that was 
recently announced as part of the broader food transformation 
effort is meant to support, support innovation in healthier 
school meals. Specifically, the program will be developed to 
recognize and support schools in serving healthier meals. It 
will include approaches like recognition, as well as actually 
providing resources for schools to serve healthier meals.
    Mr. Fulcher. Ms. Long, in your view is it--is that really 
happening, and if so, who are the decisionmakers? Are there 
locals involved with that, State officials, local officials, 
school officials? Is that working, and who is the deciding 
factors on making those decisions of where that money goes?
    Ms. Long. Well, the program has yet to be rolled out. We 
will be announcing, you know, the specifics of how it will 
operate. The intent is to again, provide, to stand up a program 
that provides a recognition to schools that show improvement or 
do something exemplary or innovative in support of healthier 
school meals, and it will also include resources that can go 
down to the local level, to help with things like training, 
menu planning, things of that nature.
    Mr. Fulcher. As a followup to that, what is the plan on the 
decisionmakers? What is the process? Who will be making the 
decisions on where to spend that money?
    Ms. Long. Well, we are still working out the details, but 
our intent is to engage in a grant or a cooperative agreement 
with a partner that will help us operate this recognition and 
support program.
    Mr. Fulcher. Third party partner, private, public?
    Ms. Long. Again, some of the details are still to be worked 
out, and we would be happy to come back and brief on that when 
we have got--when all of the details are made public.
    Mr. Fulcher. Please do. Thank you. Another question. What 
programs does the USDA support that may have to do with 
promoting better feeding and nutrition at home?
    Ms. Long. Well, nutrition education is a significant part 
of all of our programs. I will start with our Team Nutrition 
effort, which is kind of the brand of our nutrition education 
and support in school meals. We provide a variety of resources 
there, but it includes things like--things that parents, that 
children can bring home. Coloring sheets and workbooks that 
they can use at school but also are available for them to take 
home.
    Parts, in some aspects of that program, we would include 
things like after school education, cooking classes. Obviously, 
because it is part of the school meals program, it is targeted 
toward children. We strongly believe that the effects of those 
activities can spill over at home. For example, we often hear 
stories of children who are exposed to a new fruit or vegetable 
in their school meals program, and they go home and ask mom or 
dad to purchase that on the next trip to the grocery store.
    Mr. Fulcher. Okay, thank you for that. I am going to only 
have a minute and a half left, so just shifting gears for a 
moment. You have probably heard my opening statement on the 
infant formula situation. I realize this is not the FDA, but I 
also know that there is a relationship there, and there needs 
to be a working synergy in order to solve this. That has risen 
to the top of concerns for a lot of Americans right now, and 
from our perspective the FDA's failure to act with expediency 
really has caused some panic, and we are struggling with that. 
What efforts, if any, is USDA taking on this in order to 
protect that industry or get that industry moving again and 
make sure we do not have this problem again?
    Ms. Long. Sorry. USDA is certainly part of the--all of 
government effort and our focus is ensuring that WIC families 
have adequate access to formula. Because of our communication, 
our close communication with FDA within 24 hours of the recall, 
we were able to issue over 100 waivers, to allow WIC families 
to do things like exchange formula, purchase alternative 
formula if necessary. We have continued to work closely with 
our partners across government in the recent weeks and months, 
and most recently one of the things we have been focusing on is 
ensuring that WIC families have access to infant formula that 
is coming in from overseas.
    Mr. Fulcher. Okay, thank you, Ms. Long. I will just close 
my comments with just--I know you know this, but people are 
frustrated over this, and I keep harping on this should not be 
that complex of a problem. Please continue the focus there. 
Madam Chair, I yield back.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Ranking Member. Next, I 
recognize Dr. Adams. You are recognized for 5 minutes for your 
questions.
    Ms. Adams. Thank you, Madam Chair. It is good to see you. 
Hope you continue to do well. Administrator Long, beyond 
offering nationwide waivers to help WIC participants dealing 
with the baby formula shortage, FNS also recently encouraged 
State agencies to work with their baby formula manufacturers to 
identify and implement temporary flexibility in their 
contracts. This will allow WIC participants to purchase 
alternate sizes, forms, or brands of infant formula during the 
ongoing shortage. I am proud that my State of North Carolina 
and its contracted formula manufacturer are the first to have 
put this into action by bringing through a contract 
modification that expands access to formula for WIC 
participants in the State. More states, I think, must follow 
the lead of North Carolina.
    What is FNS doing to encourage State agencies and formula 
manufacturers to come to these agreements and how can FNS do 
more to facilitate these types of agreements?
    Ms. Long. Thank you, Congresswoman. As you mentioned, one 
of the steps we have taken is to provide maximum flexibility 
and strongly encourage states to enter into the kind of 
agreements you were describing. We have worked closely with 
State agencies on those kinds of arrangements, and we agree 
that they have been extremely valuable. As I mentioned 
previously, we have taken other steps to support the 
availability of infant formula to WIC families, again most 
recently including focusing on ensuring that they have access 
to the formula that is being brought in from overseas and 
issuing the waivers and flexibilities that are necessary for 
that to occur.
    Ms. Adams. Okay, thank you. Now Administrator Long, we have 
heard a lot of talk about FNS May 5th (inaudible) 2022 
clarification regarding nondiscrimination protections, and I 
would like you to give us a minute or so to explain to the 
Committee the agency's announcement.
    Ms. Long. Yes. I appreciate the opportunity to correct the 
record on this matter. Our underlying principle here is that we 
cannot allow discrimination to prevent anyone from accessing 
nutrition programs. Consistent with that principle, we issued 
the guidance that you mentioned to clarify that FNS programs 
must be open to all regardless of gender. Some have incorrectly 
suggested that there is a link between this guidance and State 
laws unrelated to our programs, involving things like gender 
identity in sports. This is not accurate. This guidance applies 
to Federal nutrition assistance programs. Others have suggested 
that this guidance will result in the loss of program funding.
    Again, this guidance only applies to discrimination within 
FNS nutrition assistance programs, and in that context our goal 
is always working the programs into compliance. Removing 
funding for nutrition programs is an absolute last resort for 
the obvious reason that we want kids to continue to keep 
getting fed.
    Ms. Adams. Great, okay. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 
school nutrition, WIC and child and adult care food program 
providers struggled to continue feeding children in a safe and 
accessible way through waivers that Congress authorized under 
the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. During the 2022 
school year, 90 percent of schools used waivers. What are some 
of the ongoing challenges you think families and school 
districts will face when it comes to feeding their children 
over the next few years, and what plans does FNS have to ease 
that transition as children go back to school?
    Ms. Long. Well, certainly as I mentioned in my opening 
remarks, we do see this as a transitional year, and we do 
expect the schools will have significant challenges as they 
scale back from the substantial additional financial, and 
operational support that they have had during the pandemic. The 
kinds of challenges we expect to see involve just being able to 
consistently obtain the items and supplies and the labor they 
need to run the programs consistently.
    In terms of the kind of support FNS is providing, we are 
currently using the much more limited waiver authority we have 
under regular operations to provide some operational 
flexibility to allow, for example, schools to continue to 
operate grab and go programs if that is necessary due to COVID 
reasons, as an example. We are going to continue to look at 
every tool in our toolbox as we go forward, and that will 
include working with State Governors, local administrators and 
encouraging others to use the resources and the support that 
they have to help these programs go forward.
    Ms. Adams. Great. Thanks very much. Madam Chair, my time I 
yield back.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Dr. Adams. Next, I recognize 
the Ranking Member of the Full Committee, Dr. Foxx. You are 
recognized for 5 minutes for your questions.
    Ms. Foxx. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Ms. Long, the 
pandemic-related waivers are finally on the path to ending. Up 
to this point, all we have seen from advocates and others is 
lobbying efforts to extend the waiver authority for another 
year. Can you please describe what actions FNS has taken to 
support a smooth transition for schools next year returning to 
the regular operation?
    Ms. Long. Thank you for that question, Ranking Member Foxx. 
As I mentioned, just previously, we have used the standard 
existing waiver authority that we have now to provide some 
operational administrative authorities on a state-by-State 
basis, that would allow some flexibility in program operations. 
We are continuing to look at every resource we have. The thing 
that I would stress is that we are extensively engaged in 
conversations with school program operators about what they 
need.
    We have been trying to provide technical assistance around 
things like procurement and in how they can deal with things 
like not receiving bids, and contract changes, and the 
flexibilities they have to manage that. We have been strongly 
encouraging them to look for local and regional sources when 
they are struggling to obtain what they need from some of their 
historical relationships. We will--we will continue to use 
every tool in our toolbox to support schools going forward.
    Ms. Foxx. Are you encouraging them to tell you where you 
have put up roadblocks to their flexibility and to adapting
    Ms. Long. Yes, again, we are engaged in conversation with 
program operators and their representatives all the time, and I 
will tell you they do not hesitate to share with us where they 
think there are roadblocks. For example, as I was alluding to, 
because of some of the challenges they have had in the markets, 
we have heard a lot about procurement rules and you know what, 
you know, things that we need to do to make that more flexible, 
or to make people more aware of the flexibilities they have, 
just as a for example.
    Ms. Foxx. Ms. Long, what role will school meals have in the 
White House Hunger Conference and is FNS providing 
recommendations, and if so, what are those recommendations?
    Ms. Long. Well, certainly FNS is part of the broad 
government effort to plan the White House conference that you 
referenced. Those, the specifics of what exactly that 
conference will cover and how FNS programs might fit in are 
still under development.
    Ms. Foxx. Well, will you promise to keep us in the loop as 
the conversation continues in providing material to us that you 
submit to the conference?
    Ms. Long. Yes. We are certainly happy to share with the 
Committee information about the conference as it develops and 
is released.
    Ms. Foxx. Thank you very much. I yield back, Madam Chair.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Ranking Member Foxx. Next, I 
recognize Representative Hayes. You are recognized for 5 
minutes for your questions.
    Ms. Hayes. Good morning, thank you. Thank you, 
Administrator Long, for being here with us today. I am happy to 
hear your comments about WIC and the support of this 
administration. I introduced the Access to Baby Formula Act 
last month and was thrilled to see that it was signed into law 
so that we could close these gaps for WIC participants.
    As the formula crisis has shown us, we need to ensure that 
our food systems remain both local and resilient. The Farm to 
School programs provide grants to schools and educationsites to 
support local food procurement, school gardens and nutrition 
education. When kids get involved with growing or preparing 
their food, they are more likely to eat it. The Connecticut 
Department of Agriculture received an $82,000 grant for this 
program last year, enabling them to engage with four high needs 
school districts in my State. Still too many interested 
districts cannot benefit from this successful program.
    Looking forward, how can Congress scale up programs like 
the Farm to School program, so that more children have access 
to these opportunities, and what kind of impact will this have 
on children in underserved communities?
    Ms. Long. Well first, Congresswoman, let me thank you for 
your leadership with respect to Access to Baby Formula Act. 
With respect to Farm-School, I could not--I could not agree 
with you more about your enthusiasm about that program. I think 
it is one of the most important and impactful tools we have 
ever had to support healthy meals in schools, and to engage 
children around the importance of health and food and 
nutrition.
    In terms of strengthening the program, I am very happy to 
share that we very recently announced that as part of the 
Department-wide initiative around strengthening the food chain, 
a $60 million investment in Farm to School efforts that will go 
toward strengthening State infrastructure to support ongoing 
strong Farm to School programs----
    Ms. Hayes. I cannot hear anymore.
    Chairman Bonamici. We seem to be having some technical 
difficulties.
    Ms. Long. Is this better? No?
    Chairman Bonamici. Can you please stop the clock until we 
fix this? Thank you.
    [Pause.]
    Ms. Long. Hello? No?
    Chairman Bonamici. Can we tell if the issue is with the 
microphone in the room or is it the virtual platform?
    [Pause.]
    Ms. Long. The button is on.
    Mr. Vassar.[inaudible] However, HRS the Tanberg feed is 
muted currently. Just a notification to HRS I have real-time 
video coming through from 2175 on the Tanberg feed, however the 
Tanberg audio feed is muted.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you everyone for your patience 
while we address this technical difficulty.
    [Pause.]
    Mr. Vassar. HRS I can confirm, Tanberg feed is switching 
optimally, however the audio feed from the Tanberg connection 
attendee is muted still. If you can unmute it, I believe the 
audio will then also arrive on the platform. Thank you.
    Chairman Bonamici. Okay we are having some problems with 
the livestream; we are suspended until it is back up. We are 
just pausing momentarily, please stay on the platform. We hope 
this is resolved momentarily.
    [Pause.]
    Chairman Bonamici. It does look like Tanberg is now 
unmuted. Banyon, should we try again?
    Mr. Vassar. Yes. Panelist, Administrator Long, if you can 
unmute your microphone and verbally confirm.
    Ms. Long. Can you hear me?
    Chairman Bonamici. Yes, we can hear you. Okay, we are, 
the--Livestream is back up and we are going to continue where 
we left off.
    Ms. Long. Thank you, and I believe Congresswoman Hayes had 
just been asking about the Farm to School program. I just want 
to point out a couple of steps we have recently taken, 
including we recently announced a $60 million investment to 
help support State level infrastructure, to support Farm to 
School programs, to really help integrate them into the program 
as a permanent part of the program. In terms of looking 
forward, one thing that I am very excited about is really 
expanding the concept more broadly beyond schools and into 
places like childcare settings, as well as doing a better job 
reaching communities we have not served as well such as tribal 
communities.
    I am really happy to report that our, even our grants to--
our Farm to School grants to tribal organizations have 
increased quite dramatically in the last couple of years. The 
other thing I will just flag is we do have I think a bit of a 
rebuilding challenge with Farm to School, in that it was very 
often supported and staffed by parents and volunteers who have 
not been in the schools as much for the last couple of years.
    We just want to keep supporting these programs at the local 
level, since they--that is really where the heart and soul of 
the programs are.
    Ms. Hayes. Well thank you. I think you have led right into 
my next question. I introduced bipartisan legislation for 
scratch cooked meals for students, the Scratch Cooked Meals for 
Students Act. This would create a grant program to help schools 
transition and cook many of their meals from scratch, engage 
with local farmers, and have the school and community working 
together.
    In order to do this, districts need to fundamentally change 
their food service programs, and by extension their food 
service employees. What are the larger workforce development 
implications of scratch cooked meals in school, and how can we 
create--I guess develop a workforce that will help to lift 
programs like this off the ground?
    I will just add, you are probably going to take up the rest 
of the time with your answer, so in regards to the White House 
Conference on Hunger, there are several listening sessions that 
are happening around the country right now, so that people can 
engage to help build out the agenda. I would love to hear your 
thoughts on expanding a new workforce to address our current 
needs?
    Ms. Long. Thank you, and you are absolutely right, that 
there is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and interest in 
scratch cooking everywhere that I go, but it does require the 
equipment, the capacity and as you say the sort of training and 
support to labor. One of the things that we will be doing, I 
talked briefly before about the healthier school for--Healthier 
School for Foods Incentives Program. One of the critical 
aspects of that will be again providing school nutrition 
professionals with the support they need to improve and 
innovate around school meals.
    That could certainly include things like training and 
resources for school food service professionals around scratch 
cooking.
    Ms. Hayes. Thank you so much, and I am so thrilled to hear 
you speak about these programs this way, because I have seen 
them work and I have seen the impact they have on schools and 
local communities. Madam Chair, with that I yield back.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Representative Hayes. I now 
recognize Representative Thompson. You are recognized for 5 
minutes for your questions.
    Mr. Thompson. Madam Chair, thank you so much. Much 
appreciate it. Thank you for this hearing. Administrator Long, 
thank you for being with us today. I represent Pennsylvania's 
15th congressional District. It covers 14 counties, nearly 25 
percent of the land mass of Pennsylvania, and through this 
area, I represent many dairy farms and have been a strong 
advocate for them, and continue to find ways to bring dairy 
varieties back into school lunches.
    As you know, milk has been one source of nine essential 
nutrients in young Americans' diets and provides multiple 
health benefits, including better bone health, lower blood 
pressure, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 
diabetes, and no other beverage comes close to this level of 
natural nutritional value. However, from 2014 to 2016, schools 
served 213 fewer, I am sorry, 213 million fewer half pints of 
milk, despite the fact public school enrollment was growing.
    Now given the nutritional value of milk and the fact young 
minds need to be well-nourished to perform at their best, this 
is a cause for concern. In December 2018, USDA announced a fire 
roll to broaden milk options in the National School Lunch 
Program and School Breakfast Program, by allowing schools to 
offer flavored, low-fat 1 percent milk rather than only fat-
free milk. While I was extremely pleased to see this, we need 
to keep pushing forward.
    That is why I have introduced H.R. 1861, the bipartisan 
Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which builds off of USDA's 
2018 guidance and allows schools who participate in the school 
lunch program to serve whole milk as an option. Now this bill, 
which has nearly 100 co-sponsors, bipartisan bill, will bolster 
whole milk consumption for our children, benefiting them 
nutritionally around the Nation and quite frankly support our 
rural economy and a more robust rural economy obviously 
supports our school districts. It is win-win.
    Ms. Long, what do you believe are the next steps to ensure 
schools continue to provide more milk choices for students, 
including whole milk?
    Ms. Long. Well, thank you, Congressman, and I could not 
agree more, that milk is a nutrient-dense food that can play a 
tremendously important role in children's diet. It is the only 
food that is specifically required as part of the National 
School Lunch Program. You mentioned the issue of the 
availability and the sort of back and forth over time on the 
availability of flavored milk. I just want to point out that 
earlier this year, we did issue an interim rule for school 
meals that continues to allow both flavored milk in both non-
fat and low-fat forms, and so that is currently an option that 
is available to schools.
    It is true that we--that milk offered in schools must be 
low fat or non-fat and that is simply because that is the clear 
guidance from the dietary guidelines.
    Mr. Thompson. Thank you. I have one more question, kind of 
actually builds on the statement you made. The interim rule on 
meal patterns essentially does codify the Trump 
Administration's rule relating to milk, whole grains and 
sodium. Despite everyone actually utilizing this program and 
asking for simple stability in the program, USDA is working on 
new, updated regulations.
    What guarantees can you provide that these rules will be 
cost-neutral to the programs, have attainable standards, 
provide flexibility so entities can actually serve food the 
students will actually eat? As I like to say, it does not 
matter what we set the standards at, if our youth will not eat 
the food, it is not nutritional. Quite frankly, what assurances 
that you will not create extra layers of paperwork or other 
administrative burdens in bureaucracy?
    Ms. Long. Well, I know from personal experience that school 
meal nutrition standards, No. 1 can work. We have strong 
evidence from the last major update that the nutritional 
quality of school meals improved considerably in the period 
after the implementation of standards. Second, I know from 
personal experience that they have to be workable, endurable to 
be effective; schools have to be able to implement them.
    Those are the principles that we will be standing by as we 
develop the new proposed rules. We are going to be--we have 
been engaged in extensive stakeholder discussions as we are 
preparing the proposed rule, and of course it is a proposed 
rule. School nutrition program operators, parents, families, 
communities, everyone with a stake in this will have the 
opportunity to comment, and I can assure you that we take those 
comments extremely seriously, and they will be reflected in the 
final rule.
    Mr. Thompson. Well very good. Well thank you so much, and 
Madam Chair, thank you. I yield back the balance of my time.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Representative. Next, I 
recognize Representative Leger Fernandez. You are recognized 
for 5 minutes for your questions.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you so much Chair Bonamici, and 
Administrator Long for joining us today. I am so pleased to 
hear much of your testimony and the answers to the questions 
from my fellow colleagues. I too have dairy farmers in my 
district, so I thank the Representative for those questions. I 
want to talk to you about nutrition issues facing my 
constituents, but I am going to start with issues around Native 
American, because a quarter of my constituents are Native 
American.
    I am actually told that there is no word for hunger or 
poverty in Keres, or other indigenous languages because no one 
would be left hungry or without food or what they need to 
survive. Right now, currently Native Americans have some of the 
highest rates of food insecurity and the highest rates of 
diabetes. Last fall when the United States Secretary of 
Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited my district, we brought him 
together with community members from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and 
we talked about targeting the most vulnerable families to make 
sure they had access to nutrition programs.
    He highlighted the need to make sure that children were 
well-fed, so they could begin to learn. We all know all of 
that, right. I am reintroducing the Tribal Nutrition 
Improvement Act to make sure tribes can administer directly 
food assistance programs. Administrator Long, do you support 
the implementation of a pilot program to allow tribes to 
administer their own food assistance programs?
    Ms. Long. Well, Congresswoman, I know that our FNS staff 
has engaged with yours quite a bit over, over the bill, and you 
know, I will start with the principle that we are absolutely 
committed to furthering tribal sovereignty and self-
determination across all of our programs, and you know, 
certainly the goal is to provide tribes with the--what they 
need to operate, to support their members, and certainly, a 
pilot program that would help us explore the best path forward 
to that goal is something we would be absolutely happy to 
engage with you on further.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you. I am glad to hear that. I 
am going to address an issue that is--I am going to talk about 
it in terms of the tribal context, but I think it applies in 
all rural areas. That is that the reimbursement rate. Many of 
the schools serving Native students are in remote areas, hours 
from the nearest distribution center, and schools are forced to 
purchase foods that travel long distance because it is too 
expensive to pay for fresh produce delivered in refrigerated 
trucks.
    My legislation would allow an increase for reimbursement 
rates for Bureau-funded schools, and I was wanting to know if 
you would agree with that, the importance that food assistance 
programs are affordable and easily accessible to those who need 
them?
    Ms. Long. Well, I think it is easy to agree that school 
nutrition programs ought to be affordable and easy to access. I 
will also point out, because folks do not always recognize 
this, that the reimbursement rate is intended to cover not only 
the food but the labor and the administration, and in most 
school districts school nutrition programs are expected to be 
self-financing. I think I mentioned in my opening statement 
that these programs operate on very small margins, so you know, 
the reimbursement rate is tremendously important.
    Making changes to that is ultimately Congress's purview, 
but again the importance--it is important that these programs 
be properly resourced.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. I want to pick up on the time 
remaining to me about the importance of purchasing that fresh 
produce made in dairy locally, because not only does it assist 
with supply chain issues as was recently discussed; it also 
bolsters the local economies. I hear the same from my local 
farmers and ranchers and dairy about the importance of it. Can 
you describe how USDA allows and incentivizes purchasing 
locally produce and other goods?
    Ms. Long. Well probably the largest way that we do is 
through both our Farm to School program grants, which provide 
the infrastructure for supporting local purchasing and 
agricultural education. We also do within the programs have 
something called the local purchasing preference, which allows 
schools to kind of, to prefer local products in their 
purchasing. We would be happy again to talk with you and your 
team about how we can utilize that and strengthen it going 
forward.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Yes, I look forward to building some 
of that in. We have already started to work on the Farm bill, 
and with that Madam Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Representative Leger 
Fernandez. Next, I recognize Representative Fitzgerald. You are 
recognized for 5 minutes for your questions.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you, Madam Chair, Mrs. Long. As 
representative from Wisconsin, America's dairy land, I am 
concerned that the two stringent standards on milk and sodium 
could effectively remove foods like cheese from the school 
lunch program. What is the status of the Department's meal 
pattern rule, and what will the sodium limit for schools be?
    Ms. Long. Thank you for your question, Congressman. In 
terms of the status of school meal rules, we are currently 
operating under a rule that we published earlier this year that 
will be in place for the next two school years, that sets 
standards for sodium, which you asked about, that are--for this 
coming year are similar to what was in place before the 
pandemic.
    Second, we are working, as I said in my opening statement, 
on a longer-term update of the school meals standards that--
with the intent that that would come into place after the next 
two school years. They will consider everything from sodium, 
every aspect of the program. It will be a proposed rule and 
open to public comment.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. In regards to that, if the levels of sodium 
are found to be not in line with what the standards would be, 
what could you do about that, or how would you--how would you 
address that so they would be able to work with those that are 
not just cheese producers but other different commodities that 
are part of the school lunches?
    Ms. Long. Yes, that raises a really important point. We see 
our role not only as sort of setting the rules and the 
standards but providing the support that is needed for the 
rules to be achievable at the local school level. We have been 
engaging extensively with school program operators and industry 
around these issues, and we have talked a lot about sodium. We 
are listening to producers, to manufacturers in terms of the 
kind of lead time they need, the kind of challenges they are 
facing, what particular products might be more or less 
challenging.
    We are talking to school program operators about the kind 
of training they need, the kind of equipment they might need to 
move more toward scratch cooking, because that can be a tool to 
reduce sodium. As I have said before, we know that standards 
need to be workable and durable in the school context to make 
an impact. That is absolutely the goal that we are moving 
toward.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. The last question I have is more anecdotal, 
but certainly something that you hear all the time, and that is 
the amount of waste associated with school lunches, frustrating 
for people when they are either working a lunchroom or serving 
in a lunch room, to see just, you know, full trays of food 
scraped into the garbage as they walk out. Is that something 
that the Department of Ag--is there any way of monitoring that 
or knowing whether or not there is a real relationship between 
nutrition and certainly, what kids want and them--instead of 
just discarding this food?
    Ms. Long. Yes. Well certainly there is too much waste in 
the food system at every point, and there is waste in schools. 
That is a fact. Now I will say that the research shows--the 
research really does not support the idea that healthier meals 
are wasted more. In fact, research shows the opposite, that 
kids actually consume, participate more in schools that have 
strong meal standards.
    We certainly do focus our thinking and our technical 
assistance around reducing waste. We share with schools' best 
practices, things like doing taste tests with the kids so that 
they are getting served things that they like and will eat 
instead of throwaway. Again, I keep singing the praises of Farm 
to School programs, but we have definitely heard that when kids 
are engaged in things like school gardens or greenhouses and 
they learn about a particular item, they are much more likely 
to try it in a school food program.
    We recognize the waste is always a challenge, and we do our 
very best to try to support schools and share best practices 
and resources for reducing waste.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you very much. I yield back.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Representative. Next, I 
recognize the Chairman of the full Committee, Representative 
Scott. You are recognized for 5 minutes for your questions.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you Ms. Long 
for being with us today. Just this week I joined Ranking Member 
Foxx in announcing an agreement to provide extended and 
additional flexibilities and assistance with child nutrition 
programs through the next school year. I hope that this 
proposal will pass the House today and swiftly pass the Senate. 
Can you talk a little bit about why the bill is so important?
    Ms. Long. I would be happy to do that and thank you 
Chairman Scott for your leadership. As you know, I said in my 
opening statement, schools are facing really--still facing very 
significant financial and operational challenges, and we 
appreciate that this bill would provide both financial and 
operational support. Reimbursement rate increases for school 
meals as well as for childcare, and it would also provide USDA 
with stronger waiver authority to help provide that operational 
support. We think this is an extremely important step to help 
support them in the coming year, where they will continue to 
face significant transitional challenges as we move back to 
standard program operations.
    Mr. Scott. What would happen to some of the summer programs 
if we did not pass legislation?
    Ms. Long. Probably the most important thing is communities 
will be more limited as to where they can operate programs. 
With the national waiver authority that this bill would 
provide, we would be able to provide communities more 
flexibility to operate programs wherever they see a need.
    Mr. Scott. Did you see an increase in the ability to serve 
children nutritious meals after the Coronavirus Relief Act 
passed, the Families First bill passed?
    Ms. Long. Well, I think it is clear that without the 
support from Congress to provide, again, the substantial, 
financial and operational flexibilities we were able to 
provide, schools would not have been able to do what they did, 
which was to keep nutritious meals, keep providing nutritious 
meals to families, even under the most extraordinary 
circumstances. Yes, those measures were absolutely essential.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. I am a strong supporter of USDA's 
cross-government coordination with the Department of Health and 
Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, and the White 
House to rapidly transport safe specialty formulas into the 
country for babies with special medical needs through Operation 
Fly Formula. This shortage has highlighted the need for 
governmental agencies to work together, and I want to make sure 
that FNS is committed to doing so given is critical role in 
infant and child nutrition.
    Can you tell me what steps you are taking to promote 
greater collaboration within the government in order to ensure 
coordinated response to future recalls and supply disruptions?
    Ms. Long. Yes absolutely. We have been engaged from the 
very outset in an all of government effort to address the 
infant formula shortage. Our particular role there is ensuring 
access to formula to WIC families. We were in contact with FDA 
from the very beginning and within 24 hours after the recall 
was announced we announced the availability of waivers and 
flexibilities to allow WIC participants to exchange formula, to 
obtain other formula, and within 3 days over 100 waivers had 
been provided.
    We continue to engage with FDA, HHS and other Federal 
partners on literally a daily, sometimes around the clock basis 
to address the challenge, and we will certainly be working on 
putting structures in place to avert this kind of issue in the 
future.
    Mr. Scott. Is there any effort to stockpile formula so if a 
disruption occurred, we would have more than tomorrow afternoon 
to respond to it?
    Ms. Long. Well, you know, I would say at this point we are 
extremely focused on the acute issue at hand, which is 
increasing formula supply through production and importation, 
and again getting it in the hands of WIC families. There is 
clearly a need and an intention by the administration to take a 
careful look at everything to do with this crisis and consider 
appropriate steps to avert such a thing in the future.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. I would like to ask you about a 
policy that FNS rescinded for the Child and Adult Food Program 
and summer program. Up until last year, you allowed states and 
State agencies to collect racial and ethnic data just by 
looking at participants. Can you explain why FNS decided to 
rescind this policy and what you are doing now to ensure equity 
in programs?
    Ms. Long. Yes. We rescinded the policy because it was just 
frankly inappropriate for program operators to be the ones to 
be determining someone's race or ethnicity by simply looking at 
it. By again, looking at that person, sorry. That policy, as 
you mentioned, has been rescinded and we are working closely 
with our program operators to come up with alternative ways to 
provide accurate data on race and ethnicity, to ensure equal 
access to our programs.
    Mr. Scott. Madam Chair, I yield back.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do not see 
any other Subcommittee members on the platform. It is my 
understanding there are none in the hearing room. I now 
recognize Representative Omar for 5 minutes for your questions.
    Ms. Omar. Thank you, chairwoman, and thank you 
Administrator Long for being here with us today. I am actually 
a former community nutrition educator, so it is nice to have 
you with us and to hear directly from someone who has extensive 
experience implementing vital nutrition initiatives. To my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle who might not be 
aware of the staggering statistics, right now more than 38 
million people, including 12 million children, are food 
insecure in the United States.
    To put that in perspective, that is nearly one in three 
black children, one in four Latino children, 6 percent of Asian 
Americans and 19 percent of Pacific Islanders, and 2.1 million 
rural households all living with food insecurity. That is 
unacceptable. No child in the wealthiest country in the world 
should be going to sleep hungry. At the beginning of the 
pandemic, as schools were closing their doors, my mind went to 
the 30 million kids who rely on school meals for their food 
every day.
    Immediately, I was able to draft, with the help of the 
committee, and introduce the Meals Act, which granted waivers 
allowing districts to do whatever it takes to provide universal 
school meals, in the hopes of preventing massive hunger crisis. 
Thankfully, my bill was included in the Families First 
Coronavirus Response Act, and the waivers became law. In August 
2020, when the waivers were expiring, we were able to work with 
our colleagues to push for those waivers to be extended, and 
luckily, we were able to secure that.
    This month, we found ourselves in a similar place, as 
families look to us to see if we are able to extend those meal 
waivers before they expire at the end of the month. Thankfully 
today, we will be voting on a bill to do just that. We cannot 
stop there. We need permanent solution. That is why one of the 
first bills I introduced after I was sworn in was the Universal 
School Meals Program.
    My question, Administrator Long, is if you are able to 
speak more to finding a permanent solution to the problem of 
child hunger, and the potential benefits of a universal school 
meals program?
    Ms. Long. Well thank you Congresswoman for your leadership 
in supporting these programs. Certainly a universal approach is 
something that has, you know, it would be a significant change 
with statutory and funding implications, and ultimately is in 
the hands of Congress. I can say that we certainly have seen 
the benefits of universal programs, not only in these past 2 
years as a part of the pandemic response, but we have had 
longer experience with the community eligibility program, which 
allows universal programs to operate.
    It is targeted toward lower income communities, but it 
allows them to operate universal feeding programs, and they 
receive their funding based on a formula rather than on an 
individual means-tested approach. We have seen great benefits 
associated with community eligibility. We hear from every 
corner, parents, teachers, principals, community members, how 
valuable the program is in increasing participation, reducing 
stigma, and just really rallying the community around school 
meals.
    We would certainly be happy to work with you and your 
colleagues moving forward for, on the what the future for 
school meals should look like.
    Ms. Omar. Thank you, and I have traveled and done extensive 
meetings with administrators in my district and have been to 
schools and have heard a lot of those success stories directly. 
Thank you for amplifying that. Can you also expand on the ways 
that the traditional funding model for school meals stigmatizes 
the children who receive those meals, as you have just alluded 
to that stigma?
    Ms. Long. Certainly, well we--some of the things we hear 
are that well, one of the issues that I am sure many of you are 
aware of is this sort of notion that sometimes children will 
appear at school without the ability to purchase a school meal, 
and they, yet they are not certified for fully reduced priced 
meals for whatever reason, the family did not understand the 
application or something to that effect.
    They are not able to obtain a meal or they are provided an 
alternative meal. We have worked really, really hard to 
encourage schools to support kids, provide meals where they 
can, be very clear about policies, to avoid exactly that kind 
of stigma, which no child should have to experience in their 
school day.
    Ms. Omar. I really appreciate that. I always say we have to 
feed the bellies before we can feed the brains, and as a 
country that has the resources, we should prioritize our 
children, their well-being, their development, their health, 
and their ability to get an education to get ahead. Thank you 
so much. I yield back, Madam Chair.
    Chairman Bonamici. Thank you Representative. I see no other 
members on the platform, and it is my understanding there are 
none in the committee room. I want to remind my colleagues that 
pursuant to committee practice, materials for submission to the 
hearing record must be submitted to the Committee Clerk within 
14 days following the last day of the hearing. By close of 
business on July 7, 2022, preferably in Microsoft Word format.
    The materials submitted must address the subject matter of 
the hearing. Only a member of the Subcommittee or an invited 
witness may submit materials for inclusion in the hearing 
record. Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents 
longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via 
an internet link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk 
within the required timeframe. Please recognize that in the 
future the link may no longer work.
    Pursuant to House rules and regulations, items for the 
record should be submitted to the Clerk electronically by 
emailing submissions to edandlabor.hearings@mail.house.gov. I 
want to thank everyone for participating today. Members of the 
subcommittee may have some additional questions for you, and we 
ask that you please respond to those questions in writing. The 
hearing record will remain open for 14 days to receive those 
responses.
    I also remind my colleagues that pursuant to committee 
practice, witness questions for the hearing record must be 
submitted to the Majority Committee staff and the Committee 
Clerk within 7 days. Questions submitted must address the 
subject matter of the hearing. I am now going to move to take 
closing statements, and I also note someone is not--somebody 
needs to mute their microphone. I see Ranking Member Fulcher. I 
do not see Ranking Member Fulcher, but I see you are logged on. 
Ranking Member Fulcher, do you have a closing statement?
    [No response.]
    Chairman Bonamici. Apparently not. Okay. I am going to 
recognize myself for the purpose of--Ranking Member Fulcher, 
were you going to make a closing statement? No. Okay. I 
recognize myself for making a--the purpose of making a closing 
statement.
    Administrator Long, thank you again for your testimony 
today. Together the Biden-Harris Administration and Congress 
have expanded access to child nutrition programs that have made 
a meaningful difference in our effort to eliminate child 
hunger. In the early weeks of the pandemic, one in three 
households with children struggled to put food on the table. 
From January to April 2021, thanks to the Families First 
Coronavirus Response Act, food shortages in households with 
children fell by 42 percent.
    Since then, Congress, and especially this committee, has 
continued to work for children, to have access to the 
nutritious food they need to learn and grow. Although the 
progress we have made is important, you have made clear that we 
have much more work to do. Later today, I look forward to 
helping to pass the bipartisan bicameral Keep Kids Fed Act, so 
schools can continue serving children healthy meals.
    The Biden-Harris Administration has been an important 
partner in our work to make sure that no one goes hungry in the 
United States. The White House is convening a conference on 
hunger, nutrition, and health in September. We heard a little 
bit about that today. It will mark another essential milestone 
to further collaborate on delivering solutions for American 
families. As Chair of this subcommittee, I remain committed to 
working with my colleagues to pass a comprehensive 
reauthorization of child nutrition programs.
    As I said earlier, if we want to eliminate child hunger, we 
must provide sustained investment. Reauthorization is long 
overdue for our schools, our childcare providers, WIC clinics, 
and all the students and people these institutions serve. Thank 
you again Administrator Long for all you do for our Nation's 
children and families, and I look forward to our continued work 
together. If there is no further business, without objection 
the subcommittee stands adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 11:34 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
   [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
                    [all]