Sensible School Lunch Act | Video

Kristin Clouston | 3/6/2013

North Dakota Senators John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp don`t see eye to eye on some issues, but there is one they can agree on, keeping kids healthy and hunger free. In December, Senator Hoeven got the USDA to temporarily retract its new limitations on proteins and grains because students said they weren`t getting enough to eat.

The USDA has granted the request through spring 2014, but Senator Hoeven wants to make it permanent so he is sponsoring a bill and Senator Heitkamp is a co-sponsor.

"What we bring forward in the Sensible School Lunch Act is what the professionals have told us they need, and by the professionals I mean 60,000 school nutritionists across country who are in the schools every single day making sure our children`s needs are being taken care of and taken care of well," Hoeven said.

As a way to fight child obesity the bill will still limit caloric intake, but allow more protein and grains. Senator Hoeven says complying with the current law would exceeded federal funding by at least $75 million a year and place a strain on school budgets.

COMMENT ON THIS STORY