Jamie Oliver, Michelle Obama, a group of former military generals, and 550,000 others agree that America’s schools need help serving healthier school lunches. Yet the Child Nutrition Bill on Congress’ docket this year is stalled in the Senate and completely absent in the House.
Polls show that voters are strongly in favor of healthier school food. Congress just needs to get the message.
The legislators who need the most encouragement are those who sit on the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. They hold the keys to a strong Child Nutrition Bill with full funding for healthier food. If your Congressperson sits on one of these committees, please take three minutes to call up their office and voice your support. We’ve made it easy for you by writing instructions and a sample message, which you can download here (for Ed & Labor), or here (for Ways & Means).
If your Congressperson doesn’t sit on either Committee, you can still help out. Right now, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) are circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter asking Speaker Pelosi to take some leadership on this issue. 167 Representatives have signed the letter already. If your Representative hasn’t, please urge him or her to do sign it before Friday, April 30.
And as always, you can ask your friends to email their legislators via the form on our Time for Lunch Campaign web site.
