Victory for Healthy School Lunch Advocates as Congress Passes Child Nutrition Bill

All smiles now that greasy lunches are going away. (Photo: Reuters Pictures).

After months of political wrangling and high voltage advocacy from First Lady Michelle Obama, House lawmakers finally approved the $4.5 billion child nutrition bill on Thursday, even as GOP lawmakers in the House tried to throw up a last-minute roadblock that would have sent the bill back to the Senate. 

The bill now goes to President Obama, who has vowed to sign it into law.

"I am so thrilled that the House of Representatives has passed [the child nutrition bill,] a groundbreaking piece of bipartisan legislation that will significantly improve the quality of meals that children receive at school and will play an integral role in our efforts to combat childhood obesity," the first lady said in a statement after the bill's passage.

Supporters of the bill say it will go a long way toward removing greasy, fattening lunches from school cafeterias by setting national nutrition standards, and giving the government the authority to say what goes into school vending machines.

While popular school items like hamburgers and pizza would not disappear, they would be made healthier.

At the same time, the bill would provide school districts more money to feed low income students by upping the federal government's reimbursement rate by 6 cents per lunch.

Among the bill's key provisions:

• New nutrition standards written by the Agriculture Department will dictate which foods can be served in cafeterias and sold in vending machines.
• Bake sales and school fundraisers selling unhealthy items and junk food will be limited in frequency. 
• Increased eligibility and accessibility for reduced-price meals for low-income students.
• New funding to serve more than 20 million after-school meals annually (currently most states only serve after-school snacks).

During months of negotiation over the bill, final passage had been far from certain, despite the high profile support from the first lady and celebrity chefs. Democrats objected that the bill paid for the healthier school lunches by slashing food stamp funds for the poor. $2.2 billion in future food stamps funds were diverted to the school lunch bill.

Republicans said it was just too damn expensive.

The final vote was 264-157, largely along party lines. 

And for those worried about the food stamps money: President Obama has vowed to find a way to restore that money at some point in the future.