NEW JERSEY — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) Monday joined local leaders at Memorial Elementary School to announce new steps in his “Stop School Hunger Plan,” which include new action and legislation to protect school meal programs from far-right extremists so that no child goes hungry.
Gottheimer is fighting back against a new tax the Trump Administration is imposing on our families: a $1 billion cut in federal funding for fresh fruits and vegetables at schools and food banks, including a $26 million cut hurting Jersey children and families.
Trump Administration’s Cuts to School Meals:
- Last week, the Trump Administration announced they were slashing more than $1 billion in federal funding provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for schools and food banks to purchase fresh, locally sourced food.
- New Jersey is losing $26 million in previously committed funding that would have supported 46 local farms and food producers across the state — including 11 farms in New Jersey’s Fifth District alone.
- $9.9 million cut for NJ from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program.
- $16 million cut for NJ from the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement.
- The Administration’s cuts will gut school meal programs and help lead to higher local property taxes for hardworking Jersey families across the state.
Importance of School Meals:
- According to Feeding America, more than 44 million people in the U.S. face hunger, including one in five children.
- In Jersey, nearly 10% of the population is food insecure.
- More than a quarter of Americans are skipping meals because they cannot afford their weekly grocery bill.
- Studies show that three out of five public school teachers have students who regularly come to class hungry.
- Hunger in the classroom decreases a student’s ability to focus, worsens their physical activity, and causes stomach aches, headaches, depression, and anxiety.
- A Tufts University study showed elementary school students who eat breakfast listen better and have better spatial memory and short-term memory than students who skip breakfast.
- Students who skip breakfast generally make more errors, have slower memory recall, and are more likely to be absent, tardy, and to repeat a grade.
- Food-insecure families spend $2,500 more a year for health care than families with enough to eat.
- Studies have shown that addressing hunger can lead to drops in violent crime.
Gottheimer’s Stop School Hunger Plan:
- This week, Gottheimer is sending a letter to the new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, urging the Administration to reverse these vicious cuts to school breakfast and lunch programs and demanding answers on why these cuts were made while stressing the disastrous impact they will have on Jersey children, families, and farmers.
- Gottheimer will introduce the Expanding Access to School Meals Act, which allows any child who qualifies for reduced meals to receive them at no cost.
- This legislation also expands the poverty threshold for free school lunch from 130% to 224% of the federal poverty level — which Jersey currently does.
- Gottheimer has long championed strengthening school meal programs so no child goes hungry:
- Last Congress, Gottheimer helped introduce the No Hungry Kids in Schools Act, which would eliminate requirements to collect bureaucratic, hard-to-manage applications from individual households that prevent many children and families from receiving assistance.
- Students will automatically qualify for assistance based on the needs determined by the State.
- Last Congress, Gottheimer helped introduce the Universal School Meals Bill, which would provide meals to all schoolchildren, eliminate burdensome application paperwork, increase reimbursement rates for participating schools, and reduce the stigma associated with meal programs.
- During the pandemic, Gottheimer fought to claw back federal dollars to help feed children who were food insecure.
- More than 9 million meals were provided in the Fifth District, compared to more than 6 million meals before the pandemic.
- Last Congress, Gottheimer helped introduce the No Hungry Kids in Schools Act, which would eliminate requirements to collect bureaucratic, hard-to-manage applications from individual households that prevent many children and families from receiving assistance.
“You can’t propel a rocket without fuel – the same goes for a growing student. They are rockets ready to take off to a successful life and career. Yet, the Trump Administration is slashing a billion dollars of food assistance for America’s children and the most vulnerable in our communities, which will lead to higher taxes on Jersey families. I simply don’t get it. Not only are far-right extremists sticking it to our farmers and the local economy, they are so dead set on cutting federal spending without a plan that they are willing to literally snatch fresh fruits and vegetables out of the mouths of hungry children. It’s shameless,” said Gottheimer, a member of the Congressional Hunger Caucus. “There is nothing red or blue about feeding our children and educating the leaders of the future — it’s why school breakfast and lunch has always been a bipartisan issue. Not only is it the right thing to do for our children’s health and wellness, but they are key to our long-term competitiveness as a nation.”
