Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act

UPDATED: October 7, 2004

The federal government invests more than $16 billion annually in child nutrition programs under the Child Nutrition Act, Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, and related programs.  On June 30, 2004, President Bush signed the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act into law to strengthen these programs and improve their effectiveness for America ’s most vulnerable children.

With childhood obesity reaching an epidemic proportion among America’s youth, Republicans acted in the 108^th Congress to increase the focus on comprehensive solutions that incorporate healthy habits, nutritional education, and increased physical activity with ongoing efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity.  The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act strikes the appropriate balance between encouraging healthy environments that will address the childhood obesity epidemic while preserving local control for states, communities, and schools.

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act will strengthen nutritional service programs, promote healthy choices among children, and address growing concerns that the federal school lunch program does not do enough to ensure free and reduced-price lunch benefits go to children who qualify.  The bill signed by President Bush was based upon H.R. 3873, the Child Nutrition Improvement & Integrity Act, legislation introduced by Education Reform Subcommittee Chairman Mike Castle (R-DE) earlier this year to strengthen and enhance federal child nutrition programs and services.

National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, After-School Snack Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program

Promoting Healthy Diets, Nutrition Education, and Physical Activity While Preserving Local Control of Schools

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act:

• Promotes nutrition education and physical activity at the state and local level to prevent childhood obesity, as originally proposed by Rep. Castle in H.R. 2227, the Childhood Obesity Prevention Act;

• Requires local wellness policies designed and implemented at the local level, and authorize the Department of Agriculture to provide technical assistance, if requested by the school or school district, in implementing healthy school environments.  The content of local wellness policies would be decided by local parents, teachers, administrators, school food service, school boards, and the public.  The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act  does not permit the federal government to dictate to local school districts the content of wellness policies to encourage nutrition and physical activity;

• Continues current policy encouraging all children to consume cow’s milk, yet give schools the option to offer a nutritionally equivalent non-dairy substitute to children who cannot drink cow’s milk for medical or other special dietary reasons; 

• Authorizes the continuation and expansion of the Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program, which provides free fresh and dried fruits and fresh vegetables, to 8 states and 3 Indian reservations;

• Ensures food safety by maintaining and strengthening quality and safety standards and improving meal quality; and

• Strengthens partnerships between local farms, school gardens, and child nutrition programs to ensure fresh, local produce can go from the farms to schools, an initiative proposed by Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ron Kind (D-WI).

Improving Access to Child Nutrition Programs for Military Families & Other Eligible Children

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act:

• Allows children whose parents are in the Armed Forces and living in privatized military housing to continue receiving free- or reduced-price meals at school if they meet eligibility requirements;

• Permanently authorizes for-profit child care centers to participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) if at least 25 percent of the children meet the income eligibility criteria for free- or reduced-price meals; and

• Continues the authority for schools, churches, community organizations, and private non-profit groups to operate Summer Food Service Program sites, and continues operation of special pilot programs (Lugar pilots) that reduce paperwork requirements and thereby increase the number of low-income children who receive free meals and snacks during the summer months.

Ensuring Integrity, Efficiency, and Quality in the School Lunch Program

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act:

• Helps parents by allowing them to submit a single application for multiple children;

• Reduces paperwork by allowing school lunch certifications to be valid for one full year, preventing situations in which schools are forced to repeatedly certify children within a single school year;

• Improves accuracy and reduces costs for schools by allowing parents to electronically file school lunch applications (through the use of an e-signature) and automate the certification process;

• Improves accountability by clarifying that school districts, not school food personnel or school food authorities, are responsible for the certification process;

• Increases enrollment of eligible children by requiring direct certification of school lunch eligibility (i.e. students who receive food stamps are automatically eligible for program benefits); 

• Authorizes a demonstration program in 5 states or parts of states to evaluate the impact of expanding free school meal eligibility to children in households with incomes at 185 percent of poverty or below (i.e. eliminate the reduced-price meal category);

• Helps to reduce the stigma among children receiving free and reduced-price lunches by helping schools make technological improvements – such as automated "meal card" systems that keep students' financial status confidential – to increase the efficiency of program operations, as proposed by Rep. Ric Keller (R-FL);

• Provides incentives for school districts to reduce administrative error in school lunch processing; and

• Requires training and more frequent administrative reviews and oversight by federal and state authorities.

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

Strengthening Program Integrity, Improving Nutrition, and Enhancing Infant Formula Benefits

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act:

• Authorizes funds for the WIC program, which includes grants to states, nutrition services and administration funds, and a farmers' market nutrition program;

• Ensures the supplemental foods available through WIC are consistent with current nutrition science;

• Requires participating vendors to purchase infant formula from a list of state-licensed wholesalers and distributors approved to distribute infant formula;

• Requires vendors to be notified of an initial violation in writing prior to documentation of another violation, unless the state agency determines that notifying the vendor would compromise an investigation;

• Improves fairness and integrity of the infant formula rebate process;

• Limits the size of state alliances developed for purposes of soliciting competitive bids for infant formula to a maximum of 100,000 infants.  Current alliances of greater size may continue.  States serving fewer than 5,000 infants, and tribal organizations may request to join any alliance; and

• Enacts strong cost containment measures to ensure that WIC food costs and voucher payments are consistent with competitive retail prices for supplemental foods, ensuring efficient use of taxpayer dollars and the ability to serve the greatest number of eligible women, infants, and children.