12.9.2014 Congress is set to make final decisions on the details of a “cromnibus” spending bill today! While a FY 2015 omnibus spending bill is still unsettled, key leadership are in tense negotiations about the inclusion of a full one-year waiver, which would allow schools to opt out of all new nutrition standards, and a rollback of specific nutrition improvements made to school meals through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
The most effective way to support healthy nutrition in schools from California is to express your opposition to a waiver and nutrition rollbacks to House Minority Leader and California Representative Nancy Pelosi.
CALIFORNIANS: YOUR ADVOCACY MATTERS!
Lawmakers are expected to vote on an omnibus spending bill tomorrow, which makes today your last chance to weigh in. Negotiations on school nutrition have moved to the “Big Four” (Senate and House Majority and Minority Leaders) and it is critical that we communicate the following to Leader Nancy Pelosi:
Remove the school nutrition waiver provision, which would override scientifically-based decisions that support children’s health and negates the success of more than 95% of California schools already meeting the standards.
Learn more about the documented successes schools have had in implementing the improved nutrition standards in school meals programs. link
E-MAIL OR CALL LEADER NANCY PELOSI!
E-mail: patricia.ross@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4965
Feel free to personalize and adapt the following script to use for an e-mail or a phone call:
My name is (name) and I live in (city), California. I am writing/calling to strongly urge you to not to roll back the great progress that most schools are making to improve child nutrition. More than 95% of California schools have been certified as meeting the standards, and millions of California students have benefited from these nutrition improvements. Please ensure the 2015 spending bill does not include a school nutrition waiver and override scientifically-based decisions that support children’s health.
Nearly 2.5 million children live in food-insecure households in California. For those children, meals served at school are a critical resource – and may be the only nutritious meals they receive all day. The nutritional standards for the federal child nutrition programs should be evidence-based and guided by the latest nutritional science. Nutritional specifics should not be established within the political process. Accordingly, I strongly urge you to oppose any efforts to intervene in science-based rules regarding the federal child nutrition programs.
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
The House is set to vote on a spending bill tomorrow. All communications need to happen today!
Please share this call-to-action with your networks!
Questions? Contact Elyse Homel Vitale at 510.433.1122 ext. 206
