Senate Proceeding on Jul 30th, 2008 :: 4:23:24 to 4:35:28
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4:23:11 to 4:23:24( Edit History Discussion )

John Warner: mr. president. mr. allard: mr. president, we field the yield the floor. mr. casey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i rise to

4:23:24 to 4:23:32( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: recognize the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the senate select committee on nutrition and human needs. i would first ask unanimous consent that a member of my staff, ken long, be granted

4:23:24 to 4:35:28( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Robert P. Casey, Jr.

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: floor privileges for purposes of this floor speech. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. today we recognize the contributions of two members of

4:23:47 to 4:24:07( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: that original committee, the senate select committee on nutrition and human needs. democratic senator george mc govern of south dakota and republican senator bob dole of kansas both made and continue

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: to make contributions in the war on hunger. it was 40 years ago that cbs television aired a landmark documentary entitled -- quote -- "hunger in america," this exposed the magnitude of hunger that

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: existed all across the nation much for the first time amerans got a closeup look at the true faces of hunger. pregnant women and children who are malnourished, infants dying of starvation, starving tenant

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: farmers living just miles from this nation's capitol. their stories and their faces moved the congress to try to end hunger. it was just last month that i was privileged to have the opportunity to

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: sit down with senator mc govern to talk about the challenge of combating hunger still today. and as we were sitting, talking, he related to me a story 40 years later that still has had a profound effect

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: on him all of these years later. the evening of that cbs television documentary broadcast that i spoke of, the evening that was on, senator mcgovern and his family were gathered around the television

4:25:20 to 4:25:33( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: set watching the documentary. and senator mcgovern still vividly remembers the effect one particular image from this documentary had on him at that time. the image was that of a school-aged boy

4:25:33 to 4:25:50( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: leaning against a wall while most of his classmates ate lunch. the interviewer in the documentary asked the boy how he felt standing there day after day watching the other children eat. his answer

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: was not that he was angry orbiter, but -- or bitter, or, rather, that he was ashamed. at that moment senator mcgovern recalls telling his family that he -- he, george mcgovern, as a united states senate,

4:26:07 to 4:26:19( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: and not that boy, was the one who should have been ashamed. now, i think what that shows is the humility andes enzi of george -- and decency of george mcgovern, first of all. what he tried to convey

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: to me in that conversation is that young person's response in that documentary, the person who was really a victim of not having enough to eat, that that response had such a profound affect on senator

4:26:34 to 4:26:49( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: george mcgovern, that he returned to the senate the very next day and began working on a resolution to establish a committee to address hunger in this country. and 40 years ago today that resolution was,

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: indeed, enacted, establishing the select commtee on nutrition and human needs. senator mcgovern chaired the committee from the time of its inception in 1968 until 1977 when it w absorbed, the committee

4:27:04 to 4:27:17( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: was absorbed into the agriculture committee, the committee we know today as the committee on agriculture and nutrition and forestry. chaired by senator tom harkin. senator mcgovern was committed to

4:27:17 to 4:27:32( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: exposing the failure of federal food assistance programs at that time. and making reforms to ensure that these programs are reaching those most in need. but knowing this was a goal he couldn't achieve

4:27:32 to 4:27:46( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: on his own, he reached across the aisle to form a key ptnership with senator bob dole, a partnership and an abiding friendship, i might add, that continues to this very day. despite theirde differences,

4:27:46 to 4:27:59( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: both of these men share the conviction that ending hunger is a morale imperative. working together senators mcgovern and dole set out to end hunger in america. their work helped educate the congress,

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: the federal government, and the nation at large about the sheer magnitude of hunger in the united states. and over the next decade they and other members of this unique senate committee developed

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: a bipartisan response to hunger. and laid the foundation of our current food assistance programs. among their chief successes were reforming the food stamp program, culminating the passage of the

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: food stamp reform act of 1977. this act made the program more efficient and more accessible to those most in need by finally eliminating the requirement that americans pay for a portion of their own food

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: stamps. they expanded the national school lunch program and made the school breakfast program, the child care food program, and the summer food service program permanent programs in our government.

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: and they established the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children, better known today by the acronym w.i.c., w-i-c. 40 years later, the programs that senators mcgovern and dole

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: championed, shepherded through the senate have succeeded in eliminating the most chronic malnutrition in the united states. today nearly 28 million americans receive food stamps. more than 17.5 million

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: low-income children receive free or reduced school meals. and more than eight million women and children receive w.i.c. benefits. the legacy of senators mcgovern and dole is truly testament to what

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: can be achieved when we work in a bipartisan fashion on shared priorities that address the basic needs of the american people. these two men who came from vastly different end of the political spectrum and

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: vehemently disagreed on many other issues, came together and both agreed that hunger was and is an issue that transcends partisan politics. the bipartisan spirit with which these two men collaborated

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: to fight hunger is -- has certainly served as a model and an inspiration to me and i know to many others in congress. following their example of bipartisanship this year in the -- on the farm bill we were able

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: to provide a record level of nutrition funding to reform and strengthen federal nutrition programs. we were able to make key improvements to the food stamp program itself and we were able to strengthen

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: the food domestic system safety net by providing significant funding to increase commodity purchases for local area food banks. but we all know that the war on hung are requires constant vigilance and

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: we must recognize that unmet needs still exist in america. despite the existence of federal food programs, hunger continues to be a serious problem plaguing more than 35.5 million americans. including

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: 12.6 million children. children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of hunger. even mild malnutrition can have adverse impacts on health, development, development behavior, school attendance,

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: and performance and self-esteem as well. in the coming year we'll have the opportunity to have a direct impact on combating childhood hunger with the reauthorization of the national school lunch act.

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: this legislation was -- which is set to expire september 30, 2009, authorizes all federal child nutrition programs. one of the most important refos that can be enacted is to expand the school breakfast

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: program. with 30 million children a day participating in the school lunch program, only one-third or 10 million children receive a school breakfast. we must find innovative ways to reach more of these children

4:31:59 to 4:32:11( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: to get them breakfast. there's a direct link between school breakfast an academic achievement. if the united states is going to compete effectively in a new world economy, we must educate our children.

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: and to do that, we must provide the best possible nutrition at school. we must also recognize that many low-income working parents with children are struggling to afford even the low fees charged for

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: reduced price school meals. according to the school nutrition association approximately one million children in this country are eligible for reduced priced meals and, yet, are not participating in the

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: program due to the cost barrier. we must devise ways that these children too are receiving proper nutritional assistance at school and do not fall through the cracks. providing adequate nutrition

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: to children during the school year is only part of the answer. congress needs to implement changes to ensure that the millions of children who rely upon school meals are not left behind during the summer.

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: currently only twohis 10 children who benefit from school meals also receive meals during the summer months. we must find ways to make programs like the summer food service program more accessible

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: to children not only in metro areas, but in rural areas as well the data from the usda research economic service shows as far back as 1970, the percentage of children living in poverty in rural areas

4:33:33 to 4:33:47( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: consistently exceeds that of children living in metro or urban areas. a bill that i introduced with senator specter, s. 117 5rbgs the summer food service rural expansion act, would lower the eligibility

4:33:47 to 4:34:01( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: threshold for feeding sites in rural areas to qualify for this program. we hope to help to ensure the availablity of summer meals for these children who live in poverty who happen to live in rural areas.

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: we know that hunger itself does not take a vacation and we owe it to these children that food assistance programs doesn't take a vacation either. finally, congress must continue to improve the quality of

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: food assistance programs. one of the great ironies of the challenge is to recognize that hunger and obesity can exist at the same time. while we recognize that we're facing huge federal deficits, we must

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: -- we must refuse to let funding challenges serve as an impediment to these critical changes. there is not a more important domestic social objective facing us in the coming years than to provide adequate

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: nutrition to children across america. and finally, mr. president, senators dole and mcgovern blazed a path 40 years ago when they joined together to help fight the war on hunger. they put aside

4:34:55 to 4:35:19( Edit History Discussion )

Robert P. Casey, Jr.: partisanship to bring light to the darkness of hunger. and now it's time for a new generation of leaders to pick up th mantle on behalf of the more than 35.5 million faces of american hunger. i therefore

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Robert P. Casey, Jr.: call upon my friends in congress in both chambers, on both sides of the aisle to join me and millions of advocates across the country in a mission to end hunger.| mr. president, i yield the floor. a

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Saxby Chambliss: senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. chambliss: i ask unanimous consent that following my comments senator bennett be recognized. the presiding officer: without

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Speech By: Saxby Chambliss