Child Obesity

In the New York Times there is an editorial entitled, “Tomorrow’s School Lunches.” This editorial discusses one possible way to combat child obesity. The author of this editorial is making the argument that the House needs to pass the Senate bill entitled, “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act,” even though the Senate’s version is not perfect. There is no author listed for this editorial, however this editorial can be considered credible because the Editorial Board of the New York Times is extremely credible. The author also cites the Senate bill and the House Committee of Education and Labor website, which discusses the advantages of the “Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010.”

The author of this editorial believes that any bill, no matter how small, is better than no bill at all. Some differences between the Senate bill and the House bill are the amount of new funding provided and the means of acquiring the money for the cost of the bill. The Senate bill provides $4.5 billion over the next decade for child nutrition programs, whereas the House bill provides $7.5 billion over the next decade. Another difference between the bills is that the Senate bill offsets the cost by taking money away from the food stamp program, whereas the House bill does not take money away from that program. The author of this editorial believes that Representative George Miller chief sponsor of the House bill, needs to “rally his colleagues to pass the Senate version,” even though it could be improved.

I agree with the author of this editorial about something needing to be done to combat child obesity, but I don’t believe the Senate bill is the correct answer. This editorial makes a good argument for the passing of the Senate bill, but in the end it doesn’t convince me that the Senate bill is the best way to combat child obesity.