THE OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS ACT OF 2009: PUBLIC LAW NO. 111-8
Bill Background
Every year Congress passes 12 separate appropriations bills to fund government agencies. In 2008, Congress only agreed on three appropriations bills for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009: Defense and Homeland Security, Veterans Administration and Military Construction. The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 (Public Law No. 111-8), signed into law by President Obama on March 11, 2009, is an appropriations bill that contains the remaining nine FY 2009 appropriations bills not completed in the 110th Congress: Agriculture, Commerce/Justice, Energy/Water, Financial Services, Interior/Environment, Labor/HHS/Education, Legislative Branch, State/Foreign Operations and Transportation/HUD.
The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 includes funding for key programs related to childhood obesity prevention, such as federal nutrition programs for low-income children and families, physical education grants and Safe Routes to School. The law also includes a provision creating a working group to examine the effects of food marketing to children under 17 years old.
Programs Related to Childhood Obesity Prevention
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
The WIC program provides federal grants to states for supplemental food vouchers, nutrition education, counseling at WIC clinics and screening and referrals to other health or social services. WIC serves low-income pregnant women up to six weeks after birth, breastfeeding women, non-breastfeeding postpartum women, infants and children up to age six. Services are provided in all 50 states, through roughly 46,000 county health departments, hospitals, mobile clinics, community centers, schools, public housing sites, migrant health centers and Indian Health Services facilities.1
The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 allocated $6.86 billion to WIC, $840 million more than FY 2008, to continue current programs and account for new enrollees. The funds will remain available through September 30, 2010.
Child Nutrition Programs
The Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ensure the health and well-being of America’s children through food assistance. Together the programs offer low-income students free or reduced price lunch, snacks and breakfast. The federal programs offer grants in all 50 states to public and nonprofit private schools, ensuring the well-being and proper nutrition of America’s children with meals that meet the recommendations of the 1995 Dietary Guidelines.2 In 2007, the National School Lunch Program provided lunches to more than 30.5 million students each school day. The FY 2009 appropriations are a combined $14.9 billion, available through September 30, 2010.3
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
SNAP, previously referred to as the Food Stamp Program, provides healthy food to low-income households with electronic benefits that can be used like cash at most grocery stores. In FY 2008 alone, roughly 12 million households were enrolled in the SNAP program.4
SNAP allocations in this act totaled $53.9 billion, $14.2 billion more than FY 2008, and will remain available through September 30, 2010.
Physical Education Programs
The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 allocated $78 million for the Carol M. White Physical Education Program—a $2 million increase over FY 2008. This program, part of No Child Left Behind, provides grants to schools and community-based organizations to initiate, expand or enhance physical education and after school activity programs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.5 The funds can also be used to provide teacher training and to purchase relevant equipment. Grantee programs must help students “progress toward meeting state standards” for physical fitness.6
Walkways/Bicycle Paths
The Safe Routes to School program was authorized in 2005 under Section 1404 of the federal surface transportation law known as SAFETEA-LU. Consistent with SAFETEA-LU, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 allocated $183 million for Safe Routes to School. Project goals include safer access to schools through bike lanes, trails and sidewalks, as well as non-infrastructure activities such as encouragement and public awareness campaigns.7
Childhood Obesity/Food Marketing to Children
The act also included language requiring a joint task force, consisting of the Federal Trade Commission, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Secretary of Agriculture, to create an “Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children”. The working group is tasked with researching and recommending standards for food marketing directed at children under 17 years old.
8 The standards must also consider, “calories, portion size, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, added sugars, and the presence of nutrients, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.” The group received $46 million in funding through the law and is scheduled to report its findings in July 2010.
1 http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/aboutwic/wicataglance.htm
2 http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/AboutLunch/NSLP-Program%20History.pdf
3 http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Lunch/AboutLunch/ProgramHistory_6.htm#Centralized
4 http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/faqs.htm?debugMode=false#24
5 http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg76.html
6 http://www.ed.gov/programs/whitephysed/index.html
7 http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/national/5890
REAUTHORIZATION OF THE STATE CHILDREN’S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM (SCHIP)
Bill Background
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was originally enacted in 1997 to provide health insurance to children whose parents did not qualify for Medicaid but could not afford private health insurance. SCHIP must be reauthorized every five years. In 2008, Congress and President George Bush could not reach an agreement on a long-term reauthorization, so Congress ultimately passed a short-term extension of the current law, which had been scheduled to expire in March 2009. However, Congress was able to agree to a full-term extension and expansion early this year, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on February 4, 2009.
Provisions Related to Childhood Obesity Prevention
Both the House- and Senate-passed versions of the bill—and the final law—included a $25 million grant program to develop a comprehensive and systematic model for reducing childhood obesity to be administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Eligible activities include: establishing after-school and weekend community activities; forming partnerships with day-care facilities to establish programs that promote healthy eating and physical activity; planning and implementing a healthy lifestyle curriculum in schools; training health professionals on how to identify and treat obese and overweight individuals; and educating families about the links between nutrition, eating habits, physical activity and obesity.
The grant program is located in Title IV, Sec. 401 the Child Health Quality Improvement Activities for Children Enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP.
ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE
Bill Background
President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—known as the economic stimulus package—into law on February 17, 2009.
Provisions Related to Childhood Obesity Prevention
The $787 billion law, which includes investments and tax cuts designed to create jobs and spur the economy, contains several provisions relating to childhood obesity prevention:
- Wellness and Prevention Funding: $1 billion was included in the law to support evidence-based clinical and community-based prevention and wellness strategies, including $300 million for immunizations, $650 million for community prevention programs, and $50 million for reducing health care-associated infections. In addition, $500 million was included for bolstering the health care and public health workforce.
- Pedestrian Walkways and Bike Paths: $27.5 billion was included in the law for road modernization. These provisions require states to allocate 3 percent of their share of this funding for Transportation Enhancements, which could include construction of walkways, bicycle paths and bike lanes.
- Food and Nutrition: $19.9 billion was included to expand benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program; $100 million was included to help schools purchase new cafeteria equipment, which can be used to store, prepare, and serve fresh meals and snacks on-site; $500 million was included for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and $150 million was reserved for food banks.
REAUTHORIZATION OF CHILD NUTRITION AND WIC PROGRAMS
Bill Background
The Child Nutrition Program and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) will be up for reauthorization in 2009. The legislation covers virtually all federal child nutrition and special supplemental nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the WIC Program. These programs are administered by the
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service in coordination with state education, health, social service and agriculture agencies. The programs have three primary goals: improving nutrition for all children; increasing lower-income children’s access to nutritious meals and snacks; and helping to support the agricultural economy.
Issues Related to Childhood Obesity Prevention
- Implementation of local school wellness policies
- Science-based nutrition standards for all food sold at schools throughout the school day
- Adoption of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans
- Nutrition education
- Implementation of the new WIC food package
- Frequency and content of School Meals Initiative analysis
- Participation in the School Breakfast Program
- Increasing the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables in schools
Key Organizations
REAUTHORIZATION OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
Bill Background
No Child Left Behind (NCLB), formerly known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, includes most major K-12 education programs and was due for reauthorization in 2007. Despite writing a discussion draft of legislation and holding hearings, Congress did not reauthorize the law and simply extended the current version of the law. It is expected that Congress will work in 2009 and 2010 to reauthorize the law.
The goal of NCLB is to ensure all students—no matter what their socioeconomic status—have access to high-quality education. Schools report that the pressure for students to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) has forced them to cut back on physical education. However, recent research has shown that physical education programs may actually improve academic success and concentration in the classroom—and at the very least do not negatively impact academic success.
Issues Related to Childhood Obesity Prevention
- Improvements to health and physical education in schools
- Professional development for teachers and principals to promote healthy habits
- Research to assess the impact of health and physical activity on academic achievement
- Safe passage to and from school on foot and by bicycle
- Reauthorizing Carol M. White Physical Education Program (part of NCLB)—the only federal funding for physical education
Key Organizations
NEW AUTHORIZATION OF THE TRANSPORTATION BILL
Bill Background
The 2005 "Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users"
(SAFETEA-LU) authorized $286.5 billion in federal investment for highway, public transportation and highway safety programs from fiscal years (FY) 2005-09. The law expires on September 30, 2009, and House and Senate backers are expected to introduce draft legislation this spring.
Issues Related to Childhood Obesity Prevention
- Increasing funding and improving policies related to the Safe Routes to School Program (section 1404 in SAFETEA-LU), so more children have the ability to walk and bicycle to schools safely.
- Enacting “Complete Streets” policies, which ensure that federal transportation investments create appropriate and safe access for all road users, including motorists, transit vehicles and riders, bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities, including people with disabilities.
- Funding Transportation Enhancements, which are used to improve the cultural, aesthetic, and environmental aspects of the nation's intermodal transportation system. Approximately half of these funds are used for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
- Preserving the Recreational Trails Program, which provides states with funds to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for non-motorized and motorized recreational trail uses. The program is currently authorized at $85 million in FY09.
- Improving the Fair Share for Safety Program (part of the Highway Safety Improvement Program), to require that states match the percentage of funding for pedestrian and bicyclist safety with the percentage of bicycle and pedestrian fatalities on the road. Currently, pedestrians and bicyclists represent 13 percent of all traffic fatalities, but do not benefit from a proportionate level of federal funding.
- Enacting Health Performance Outcomes, which link transportation funding to measures of a project’s potential impact on physical activity, safety and air quality. To develop accurate performance measures, the USDOT would improve data collection and modeling for bicycle and pedestrian use and crashes.
Key Organizations
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