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Klobuchar believes nutrition program will be reauthorized

The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to markup a bipartisan bill reauthorizing child nutrition programs next week.

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota says the program is important to farmers and she is confident the legislation will be reauthorized after it failed to be included in last month’s omnibus bill.

“We’re pretty excited that we were able to reach an agreement on the School Lunch Program, instead of kind of putting it at the winds of politics in a very difficult year.”

The bill provides some flexibility to schools and Klobuchar says it will be very similar to the previous program.

Members of the Senate Ag Committee wanted to attach a reauthorization measure to the fiscal 2016 omnibus spending bill, but Senator Klobuchar tells Brownfield more time was needed.

“I was concerned when it wasn’t in the omnibus that we were going to lose any chance at a bipartisan agreement, especially in an election year.  But, cooler heads prevailed and the bipartisan agriculture committees were able to reach an agreement and we’ll be voting on it in the committee this week and then it goes to the floor.”

Klobuchar says the committee selected January 20^th for markup of the child nutrition reauthorization bill.