DeLauro: are we using the USDA as positive force for change?

From the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro this afternoon...

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement during a subcommittee oversight hearing on nutrition programs managed by the US Department of Agriculture focusing on nutritional quality and standards and the implications for reducing childhood obesity rates

Below is the text of DeLauro’s opening statement (as prepared for delivery).

The committee is called to order. Thank you and let me welcome everyone this afternoon, especially our witnesses:
• Thomas O’Connor, Acting Deputy Under Secretary Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services.

• Kelly D. Brownell from Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and

• Lynn Parker representing the Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, The National Academies.

Thank you all for taking the time to join us this afternoon to share your insight and experience.

I also want to welcome the newest Member of our Subcommittee, Congressman Lincoln Davis from Tennessee. Mr. Davis, we are delighted to have you here. And welcome back to all of our subcommittee members.

We come together today, with a comprehensive agenda for the year ahead and ready to build on all that we achieved in the last Congress. Last year, we convened six budget hearings, and through the work of the subcommittee worked to increase resources and improve management at agencies in need of reform. We called numerous oversight hearings on drug safety, food safety, rural development, and the impact of speculation on oil and food prices, all part of our mission to highlight and pursue critical questions of public health, consumer safety, and economic growth.

I have enjoyed working together with my colleague, the ranking member Congressman Kingston. And I am looking forward to collaborating with him and the entire subcommittee in the months ahead. We will be writing a new Appropriations bill and working to preserve and strengthen our rural communities. Support local businesses pushed to the brink by our spiraling economy. Protect public health, address safety, and think big about the problems, like energy, not just today but on the horizon as well.

So we begin today, with a hearing on public health, the first in a series on nutrition, where I hope we can look at fighting hunger, making nutritious food accessible, and exploring the federal government’s responsibility. For decades our nation’s nutrition programs under the Department of Agriculture have been a big part of our social safety net -- providing children and low-income families with access to quality food.

And over the last year, we have made progress. With the Farm Bill we took critical steps to end years of erosion in food stamp benefits: increasing the standard deduction from $134 to $144, then indexing it to inflation. And increasing the minimum benefit to $14 from $10 where it had been frozen for the past 30 years, then indexing it to inflation as well.

The fact is: one in five Americans is affected by nutrition programs under the Food and Nutrition Service at USDA.

So we have to ask, are we using the USDA as a positive force for change?

Are we doing families and children good, or are we contributing to their poor nutrition and obesity and other health problems. Do we understand the full consequences of our choices not only from specific programs like WIC or the School Lunch Program, but also when it comes to our far-reaching subsidy policy.

The latest statistics are overwhelming. Two-thirds of adults are over weight today. The trendlines are not promising. In the past 20 years, the percentage of adolescents who are overweight has more than tripled. And the habits most people take up as children and in school stay with them their whole lives. Diabetes and other dangerous health problems are on the rise costing our economy millions.

So with this hearing, we will look for answers:

• What role can Congress play in fighting hunger, combating obesity and improving nutrition? – in particular this subcommittee, how can we apply the power of the purse to bring change?
• What is the administration’s current proposal? Will it make an impact in charting a new course?
• According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the industry spends $10 billion a year marketing to children:
• Considering their significant influence and control, can we succeed in any significant behavioral change?
• What place should competitive foods -- which are not required to meet any significant nutrition standards -- have in our schools?
• Many school administrators see these foods, sold in the a la carte line or vending machines, as an important source of revenue.
• But USDA’s recent study showed otherwise, suggesting that as a result, federal funds may actually be indirectly supporting students who do not need the help.
• How can you collaborate with HHS and the Department of Education to make dietary guidelines stronger?
• For our witnesses, if you would make any changes, what would they be?

From WIC to SNAP to the School Lunch Program, there are so many powerful tools, and we have used them to achieve a lot of good over the years. But we have lacked the coordination and long-term vision to take full advantage of their potential.

Our question going forward is how to get all of these programs working together, effectively and in the same direction? How do we harness their reach and impact, and apply it to a larger, more comprehensive campaign to strengthen healthy diets, healthy weights, and active lifestyles. The Agriculture Appropriations Bill and the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization will be important next steps.

I want to thank our witnesses again for participating this afternoon. I look forward to your testimony. In dire economic times like these families and children should never be forced to choose between securing healthy food for their children and providing health care, shelter and other basics they need just to get by. For many families, the USDA’s nutrition programs make the difference. Now is our opportunity to make them better.

With that, I will ask Ranking Member Mr. Kingston if he would like to make an opening statement.