move carefully and make sure that whatever system we come up with adequately takes into account the fact that people of building their business is based on the expectation. .. all of us agreed that we ought to follow the money and make sure we end up with a system that compensates rights holders and this is a key element of that and again my time has

expired but i think this has been an excellent panel. >> i think one of the things we should remember and you should take into effect is the fact that businesses won't have as many problems with prospective change and so i think if you look at what's happened i think you should look more at the perspective rather than going backwards. see and allow me to, as we move to international trade morant bar for our music countries need to commit a gate to us in different character sets and their of any kind of registry or any kind of unique number makes it very difficult to give mr. miller has money when we are saying dealing with trade with the chinese organization or a russian organization are anyone with a different language. steve my time has expired mr. chairman but thank you very much. >> you will be pleased to hear mr. miller busted you have a

good cheering section here today. this hasn't been near as hard as i thought it would be. >> we are not done yet. >> the dauman from mr. -- north carolina. >> earlier in my career i worked in the other body and was a legislative council working on tax issues and although we always kept her i on the larger picture and the desire for a major tax reform tax overhaul we are often confronted by issues where constituents or constituents business was unfairly impacted by unintended consequence of a law or rule of regulation. we would work on a fix for that unintended consequence and i think they respect act confronts an idiosyncrasy in the law that has resulted in some of our greatest talents just because

before 1972 aren't getting compensated. the situation is also led to lawsuits in states under a patchwork of state copyright law. this is costly. it's complicated for everyone involved and its ecosystem as it's been termed and i think it's a good reason for congress to act and provide some legal clarity not only for the artist impacted but the growing digital music platforms. i want to point out that the digital music services are playing an important role promoting artists of all generations and i want to commend them. these are new technologies and new ways to enjoy them in new revenue streams. i wouldn't begrudge the founder of pandora for making a lot of money because he has created a new revenue stream for artists to get revenue. so it's a discrete problem and i think we have a rifle shot solution.

it's a good opportunity for congress to act. to fix this anomaly of the system. i also don't consider the respect act to be a stomping horse for the larger issues that will merely be considered and hopefully resolve in an overall copyright review. but i don't think waiting for overall copyright review as a fix is a reason to forego fixing a discrete problem that is indeed an unintended consequences above the law. now mr. knife i read your testimony so i think i know what you are laboring to get out about two hours ago. >> thank you. the new believe they respect act will create an anomaly that caters to a limited group and this pre-1972 artists and i

think another anomaly while in creating an anomaly and fixing an anomaly that copyright law has left open as a loophole which companies can exploit because it's pre-1972. this is pretty iconic music. the artists that are still with us aren't getting any younger. and the services get to play this music for free so your members use the statutory license presumably because it provides a one-stop shop for all the reporting needs they need to operate a service and is also become clear that those services believe it doesn't apply to the rights protected by state law the rights to sound recordings made before 1972 but rather you get the rights and some other way. these services are simply decided not to pay anyone for the rights to play the

recordings. so i recognize from reading your testimony that you may not believe there is a performance implicated by the state law and i think you are wrong by the way but i think it's clear that there are some reproduction rights instead because you have got to make a copy into your server before you can play it anyway so that's one point. it's also clear in the private market direct license services don't seem to draw a line between federal and state protected recordings -- recordings in the private license we talked about and in addition it's incredibly complicated to identify whether recordings are in fact protected by state law. for example pre-1972 samples have been protected by copyright law and protected by the federal love. it's complicated so the agreement that you have it seems

that it would be simpler for you to pay for all the music rather than try to draw this distinction for pre-72 music just because there is a loophole there and you can. so laying all that out there and i'm just confused as to why your members haven't embraced this simple elegant rifle shot solution which i think would be beneficial to your members. i have a minute so if you could answer that. >> granted. >> thank you very much for laying the issue also clearly. the truth is that amongst my membership some of my members to pay for pre-72 sound recordings as you pointed out based on direct deals and other arrangements. the point that i was trying to make about it establishing an anomaly was not that it doesn't attempt at the respect act doesn't attempt to address an existing anomaly but the problem that we have with it is that it

seems to just build another anomaly onto that -- it doesn't afford full federalization of these pre-72 sound recording so that leaves people disenfranchising continues as i complained about throughout today's hearing the fragmentation of the marketplace. it doesn't allow libraries and archiving institutions to have their rights. it doesn't afford the public fair use right. it doesn't apply to you and to you in ca protections and probably most importantly it doesn't afford those older legacy artists the opportunity to perhaps get their copyrights back or negotiate for a better deal once the term of copyright will expire so that their issue. our issue is not bad in and of itself it's not a rifle shot or an attempt to rectify a situation. our issue status seems to be once again a very narrowly tailored remedy that ends up

creating more anomalies within the system. see the gentleman's time has expired. agility from texas for five minutes. >> mr. chairman and the ranking member like me first of all take a little bit of my time to say this is an anonymously important process. i have gone through this for maybe almost a decade and just the idea of an omnibus approach and fixing it finally were attempting to fi fix it finallys a crucial moment in our history in intellectual property and for all of us who have been employed over the years and this thing called music. let me apologize on the record that we were in a meeting for the reauthorization of the voting rights act. that is why i was away from the desk and i think all of you who represents represent such a diverse population understand

how valuable that is co. i believe that is the right approach and what i would like to do is to get some of you who are here to indicate what would be the most important item to be in on the omnibus approach. i assume will be listening to broadcasters at some point and others involved in this process. many of you have known my work has included the value of the performance and their writer and a key element of putting together music which i think many of the newer generation may not be familiar with all that it takes to get a final product. they see it in the quickness or the title of a knife. mr. portnow who has been with this mission for a very long time and dealt with these issues of music being heard in being

written what would be the most important elements that congress should look at if we were to look at an omnibus approach? >> thank you for the question and i want to certainly take a moment to thank you for your work on the performance rights issue which is credible to us as i indicated in my opening remarks. i think it's really about fair market value. if we can get our heads and arms around the fair market approach to all of the constituencies that is going to rise all votes and because we all have whether the songwriter artist the producer the engineer is behind-the-scenes that are the background musicians all of them have a stake here and so we have to address this in a way that each one of them wants fair market compensation for their work. >> thank you. dad asked mr. romeo if you

would, i heard your testimony -- mike mr. o'neill a bill that approach this from an omnibus perspective. ci would also agree with the fair market concept. the songwriter equity act was a step in right direction to allow the courts to view all rates, all rights when trying to approximate what a willing buyer and a willing seller would do in that word is still approximate because it's not a willing buyer and a willing seller so i believe the fair market aspect of an omnibus bills would be beneficial to all parties. >> if i press you a little further and indicated that there is this a vast market for broadcast media that is not the internet or youtube how would they play into an omnibus approach that we wouldn't have to go back down the journey of no return as we have done in

times past? >> i think they would be opposed to it. i think ultimately you have heard it today looked ... about the performance right in sound recordings whether they be for or against it. i think you are tied to some legacy industries that don't want to change or don't want to recognize the value of copyright going forward. they all own copyright themselves. i think it sometimes comes down to the question of what are the balance of scales and payment for the copyrights. >> you don't think a deliberative approach would draw in those different elements? i'm going to call them different elements to bring to the table because if you constructive bill that develops a fight, you have an advance yourself. do you think there is something that would draw more persons to the table? >> i do think that a build, yes i do. i do think it would be

beneficial to have a all-in-one. again when we started this i prefer to keep it simple something focusing on the songwriter's by making it broader you are bringing in many more constituencies and it gets a little muddier if you will. so my initial thought was let's protect what we have but we also have to look a bit broader greater good. >> you might give money to come out on the other side with a better perspective. ci would love that. >> could i just? from a broadcasters employment don't think there's any broadcaster in the world who doesn't want to operate in a competitive environment. it's how you get to that competitive environment that so difficult. for instance the one thing that i think local television stations would benefit from would be somehow getting the copyright holder to have to clear the performance right at the time the production is made not tying it into what we call

in the can product and then saying okay you have to pay performance rights even though you didn't have a choice as to what music was used nor can you control. you can't get it out of the program so you are kind of stuck with a no control and you still have to pay for it. it's pure television. i'm not suggesting it's a problem all over but from a television perspective you have to get the producer to clear the performance right. >> the gentlelady's time has expired. >> mr. chairman and ranking member thank you very much and just to put a comment on the record as i close because my time has expired if i could just conclude. i do want to say i'm fascinated mr. griffin is not able to pursue questions about the registry and how it will process and to legislation and what walter griz so hopefully we will have an opportunity to do a

dialogue. if mr. chairman will give me five seconds to hear mr. griffin's answer. >> granted. >> that couldn't be more important because the call for the register of copyrights. she is great so you have got to empower her and give her the resources she needs to revamp that offer such that they can properly record in enumerate their brides such that they can be properly licensed, properly paid, that they can be proper moral education of those that did these things such as the history of our culture and their heritage are properly recorded and reported. the rest can in some ways take care of itself if we do that though we do not do that at all. >> i think you and i yield back. ci think the gentlelady. >> one final comment to make. >> if you care to answer this question would you put in writing and give it to make? tell me what you're idea is that

a fair market and the free market. >> good question. >> this concludes today's hearing and i think the panels and i thank those in the audience. the standing room only audience indicates to me that this issue is not an insignificant issue and it will be visited and revisited time and again i can promise you. without objection all members will have five legislative days to submit an extra written question for the witnesses or additional materials for the record. this hearing stands adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

next a look at child nutrition programs in the u.s.. members of the military testified about the effect of nutrition has on military readiness. we will also hear from a pediatrician and a middle school principal in the senate agriculture hearing chaired by

debbie stabenow of michigan. [inaudible conversations] >> well good morning. the committee meeting will come to order. we are so pleased that all of you are here today and i want to welcome everyone to the committee's first hearing as we begin the process of reauthorizing child nutrition programs. these conversations could not come at a more critical time. today more than 16 million children in this country don't have enough to eat. at the same time childhood obesity rates have tripled over the past 30 years. something is wrong with this

picture. these trends are not just a threat to the health of america's young people. they are a threat to the future of our national security and we are going to talk about that today. for generations the u.s. military has depended on the strength and encourage of young americans to form the world's most elite fighting force. our military leaders recognize this and historically when they have asked congress for help we have first bonded. near the end of world war ii general luis hirschi came before the congress to explain that malnutrition and under feeding were to blame for recruits being rejected for service in the armed forces. in response to the generals concerns congress launched the national school lunch program calling it a measure of national security. today, as we will hear our military leaders have a request for congress and its the same

request we will hear from pediatricians and school leaders and parents. they asked that we protect and d strengthen school initiation program so that we can strengthen our nation's military preparedness and improve the long-term health of the next generation of americans. this request has even more urgency today than it has years ago. that's because roughly 27% of americans between the ages of 17 and 2024 or two overweight to serve in the military. and the proportion of new recruits who failed physical exams during the past 13 years rose by nearly 70%. childhood obesity and weight related diseases weaken our nation's financial security as well. it's estimated that the nation spends about $14 billion a year

to treat obesity and preventable weight related diseases in children alone not counting adults. yet for 14 sounds we can give the child an apple in school. $14 billion a year or 14 cents. that reminds me of what benjamin franklin once said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. these are the critical types of investments we can make now to save billions down the road reducing many of the high costs associated with treating preventable diseases like type ii diabetes, hypertension and liver disease. in the classroom a school breakfast can spur a lifetime of learning and achievement. we know that children who receive a healthy breakfast are likely to have better math scores and are less likely to be absent from class. for many children a healthy lunch can form the foundation for a lifetime of good health.

may can sure children have healthy nutritious food will mean they can focus on what's important, learning, growing and ultimately becoming productive and successful in future years. while it's often easy to think of programs in terms of a six-month budget, or for the annual appropriations this hearing is really about the big picture. school breakfast and school lunch are key components of child nutrition but it's also important to remember that child nutrition is also about wellness policies, it's about wic women in pennon children's programs, it's about farm to school efforts in daycare. it's about reducing hunger for children after school and during the summer months. the authorization of child nutrition programs is important. investing in our children's nutritional health is not only about the cost of the meal, it's

about investing in our nation's future in our most critical priorities stronger national security long-term economic strength educational success and the health and happy lives of our families. i am pleased we have a great panel of witnesses today to discuss the big picture impact of investing in the health of our children. we welcome everyone today and our ranking member is not able to be with us. i know we will be joined by others as we proceed. if either of my colleagues want to make a brief comment i would be happy to have it otherwise we will go to our witnesses. spare lets introduce one of our witnesses. is that a right? we absolutely have a labour seat. >> dr. steven cook trained in pediatrics and adult internal medicine. he serves as an attending physician at the university of rochester medical center. dr. cook served as member of my

healthy children's working group and he shared his research with us on childhood adolescent obesity and his work has been a resource to me as i have developed my legislative agenda for children's health. dr. cook's research focuses on children and childhood adolescent obesity by examining cardiovascular risk factors and prevention and intervention. dr. cook is an integral part of the obesity collaborative which serves as national model for obesity treatment. the rochester team was among 10 teams chosen to participate in a healthy way to collaborative which is aimed at curbing the obesity rate in the us. dr. cook received his m.d. from buffalo school of medicine and create -- completed his residency in buffalo new york. he has completed the pediatric fellowship during which he focused on research and clinical aspects of nutrition and physical activity and the metabolic competitions that arise. he has been recognized by the

american heart association for being the national science advocate of the year in 2011th and currently serves on the governors antihunger task task force in new york state as was the chairman and membership committee for abc society. we welcome into the senate agriculture committee today and look forward to his testimony. >> thank you very much senator gillibrand and thank you for your advocacy and leadership. we are very fortunate to have senator gillibrand and -- he were strong advocates for the childhood edition programs and i look forward to working with you in partnership as we perceive to reauthorize in the coming year. let me proceed with their other witnesses. and please introduce our first witness on a panel general richard hawley a retired four-star general in the air force who serves on the executive advisory council for readiness. and nonprofit nonpartisan national security organizations with hundreds of retired military officers committed to

strengthening future generations through smart policy. during general hawley's military career he served in a variety of staff positions in the eye states and overseas commanded a group playing air force into major commands. his assignments as a flagstaff officer include duty as the air force director of operations during the first gulf war commander of u.s. forces japan principle deputy assistant secretary of the air force for acquisition and commander of united states air force in europe and the allied air central. we welcome you. our second witness is mr. otha thornton president of the national parent teacher association who is also a senior operations analyst for general dynamics in georgia. mr. thornton is a retired united states army lieutenant colonel and his last assignments were with the white house

communications agency and united states forces iraq and baghdad. mr. thornton earned a bronze star medal for performance in combat operations during operation iraqi freedom in 2009 in 2010 and as a pta leader mr. thornton's military background has allowed him to volunteer throughout the country and the world at various state, local and council levels when we are so glad to have you with us. let me now turn to ms. yolanda stanislas. we are so pleased to have you. if principal of francis scott key middle school in silver spring's maryland. she has -- maxis and educator for 21 years starting her career as a high school earth science and chemistry teacher in new york city public schools. she also taught at bethesda chevy chase high school and served as teacher and assistant principal at silver springs

middle school. prior to becoming principal she was principal of galloway elementary school. ms. stanislaus has spent several years in montgomery county public school system and montgomery county schools participate in the national school lunch and breakfast programs in addition to providing meals. the schools participate in other healthy food and hunger mitigation programs including afterschool snack summer meals and farm to school at today's. we are so pleased to have all of you here with their experiences and expertise to share. i would remind you we are asking for testimony and we are happy to accept whatever you would like to give us in writing as well and we will start with general hawley. welcome. >> thank you chairwoman stabenow and committee. first of all thanks for holding this hearing and for including

me. appreciate the opportunity to give our perspective as retired military. it may seem odd to some here that an officer would be here talking about childhood nutrition. not exactly airline of expertise that is the chairwoman pointed out the national school lunch program was established in 1946 in response to our experiences during world war ii when we discovered of those who were not qualified for military service, about 40% of those were -- so the congress took action and establish the school lunch program and it has had a great effect on the health of potential recruits that would defend the nation. ..

to meet the demands of military service. others cannot meet the educational requirements or have a criminal background, which disqualifies them. just to put a number on this, for the six years from 2006-2011 young men and women were denied in less than at the rate of

62,000 -- 62,000 unamerican during that time it could not qualify for military service because they were overweight or obese, and just to put a little easier number on it, that would man about 30 air force combat wings. it is an astounding figure, and one that demands action. 12,001st term in listees i discharged every year because of weight problems, 1200. of course, the military has to then go out and recruit and train replacements. i don't know how this adds up to the 14-cent, but it is $90 million a year that we spend to reach -- recruit and train as replacements. the department of defense spends another over 1 billion to treat obesity-related illnesses through military medicine and try care programs.

the military is responding to these problems. they have launched a number of initiatives to deal with the issues, but they need health, and that is why school metrician environment is so important. a child who is overweight in their preteen years has an 8 percent chance of being obese by age 25, and those of the once it cannot meet the requirements from military service. in 2010 our group released a report to fat to fight and another in 2012 still too fat to fight a examining how obesity effects are military and highlights the need for standards in our school lunch program. when it was released in 2010 our can -- our children were consuming way too many junk food calories, the equivalent of 2 billion candy bars per year -- by the way, 2 billion candy bars

weighs more than the aircraft carrier midway. but the revised standards that this committee endorsed in 2010 are beginning the show results. the steady upward march of the rate of obesity is slowing and in some age groups has been reversed. cultural changes not happen quickly, but if given time to work their magic, the standards you put in place will give us a stronger military and 2030 and a healthier nation as well. on behalf of the 450 generals and admirals that mission ready is that they do for this opportunity to highlight the link between national security in childhood obesity. >> thank you very much for that testimony. mr. parton, welcome again. >> chairman debbire stabenow, committee members to my fellow distinguished panelists, i am honored to have the opportunity to speak your -- before you befe

4 million members with more than 24,000 local units, pta exists in all 50 states, the district of columbia, pr, the u.s. virgin islands, and department of defense schools in europe. i currently serve as president of the national pta, and elected volunteer position i assumed june of last year. in addition with my involvement in national pta and local and state and local pta is in several states. i am currently employed as a senior operations analysts had georgia and am a retired lieutenant colonel. most importantly, i have over two decades of experience as a father, my two wonderful children. pta was founded in 1897 and is the oldest and largest volunteer charlie advocacy association and the united states.

the legacy of influencing policy to protect education, health, and overall well-being of children has made an indelible impact in the lives of millions of children and their families. his legacy includes the creation of kindergarten glasses, juvenile justice system to my child labor laws, and mandatory immunizations for schoolchildren our mission is to be a powerful voice for every child. with regard to today's hearing, one of the fundamental purposes a pta is to preserve children sell that protect them from on. pta has been at the table from the beginning pilot in a hot lunch program at schools in the 1920's that led to a pta advocacy for a national school lunch program, and each subsequent reauthorization of the richard beat national march act. most recently the pta and our coalition partners fought for the passage of the healthier

under free act which made significant updates to our nation's food nutrition programs . pta viewed this as well to win for the kids and the parents because parents knew that for the first time no matter what our kids purchase of a cafeteria it was going to be good for them and as for primary decision makers in our kids' lives that also provided as a stronger role through local well as policy development, implementation and evaluation. and as i always say, if you're not at the table, you are on the menu. i mention these not only to underscore the commitment to the well-being of our nation's children but provide a historical context for where we are today. we have made a commitment to our children for over 70 years to do the right thing in the cafeteria, and we cannot turn our backs now. i know some of my fellow panelists will address the reality of our nation's obesity

crisis as it relates to our overall health and national security, so as a pta leader and father, i am here today to tell you that parents and families are committed to working together to ensure our nation's job nutrition programs as well. where are we today? schools are making an exceptional progress in the nutritional quality of the meals they're serving to orchids. there have been challenges along the way, but that is to be expected. we are parents, and when was the last time you change rules for your kids in the interest of their well-being and there were happy about it. anyone? as a partner in the school building pta and parents understand there are certain challenging realities, never enough time to the seldom enough money, and oftentimes minimum resources, but that can never be a free pass not to do the right thing from our kids.

for parents it means we need to step up to the plate and support our schools, the administration, the school food service and teachers and students to make sure that school meals a successful. that means having a seat at the table and finding solutions to the challenges. do we need updated kitchen equipment? well, how will we secure funding do we need volunteers to a breakfast to be served? lets get parents and grandparents together. do we need to taste test? how can we help? i just fund-raising practices? let's do this. one of the most common questions we here as we travel is well our kids have enough time to eat lunch? how can we solve this problem? we can do this together. it may be a little bit of time and a lot of effort, we can do it. thank you for having me. >> thank you very much.

>> thank you very much, chairwoman debbire stabenow and distinguished members of the committee. i am both a pediatrician and adult internist and an american heart association volunteer. the unintended benefit of my dual trading is now being realized. today i see your impatience with type two diabetes, high cholesterol, and fatty liver disease, conditions which i am familiar with treating adult patients, but by pediatric colleagues have never seen these before. in other words to my children are developing adult diseases as a result of poor diets. today one in three kids are teens are overweight or obese. hypertension, high cholesterol, type two diabetes are affecting at unprecedented levels. not surprisingly more than 90 percent of children need not normally one of the five components used by the heart association to define a healthy diet. beyond the toll on human

suffering obesity is associated with diseases with that cheap prize -- steep price tag. from 78 billion in 1998 to 270 billion in 2009. let me tell you a story. i currently work in a pediatric practice and am on the frontline of the war against charles of obesity. almost half the students are considered overweight or obese, and nearly 90 percent qualify for free and reduced lunch, in many instances being the only help to build a receive. it was during my training i learned that the board lesson fix. i must care for children and families beyond my office providing life-saving vaccines are medication to bubble work awarded to of these very same children were doomed to a life of diseases brought out by part of a healthy diet. i have seen activity and eating

have what -- habits are a step was critical in early of life. it provides unique opportunity for improving the health of our nation's children, lower medical costs, and improving productivity. i like to illustrate relative balance in the small and consistent change in the life of a charm and out of me directly at the right time allowed for prevention and treatment to overlap. colleagues of mine and i had a 3-year-old patient who during his annual checkup was found have a bmi in the obese range. she discussed the boys beverage habits and drinking which amounted not think was a problem until it returned for his 4-year checkup since could still a beast. that disgusting behavior changes he came in for regular visits and is where it continued to increase. over his last two visits his

weight decreased by just over a pound over seven months. by now is bmi percentile was 69 percentile for age. these changes were not of a high intensity level, like treatment needed for older children or those more severely affected, but the consistent message is part of well child visits with age appropriate recommendations for nutrition, physical activity , screen time, and sleep. this is a motivated parents who sought out resources. the patient is now on the right path to a healthy life. programs authorized by the help the hungry kids act set the stage for children to get a head start for a lifetime of help -- healthy habits. i urge the committee in congress to continue the good work school districts have to prioritize our nutrition programs. a great upfront investment in our children and nation's

future. to do less is unacceptable, and i believe we cannot let perfect the enemy of good. we can work through challenges while applying evidence based strategies for altering the food in varmint and presentation with minimal cost. let me conclude by noting that programs play a critical in improving the health of our nation's children, their future, and our nation's future and is one of the many strategies the world alone won't be enough must be implemented to turn the tide of obesity and many chronic conditions. the very lives of our children are a stake. thank you. >> thank you very much. welcome. >> thank you for having me. good morning. thank-you for this opportunity to share my experience and use on the importance of job nutrition programs like school breakfast and lunch.

when i think about this issue of school the attrition from the perspective of the principal and parents, both a middle school and elementary age child, the benefits of universal or free and reduced meal programs is obvious. in addition, i was a child of to working-class parents who worked tirelessly to close, the commander to five children. as a child i participated in the mail program at my school. i recall looking forward to going to school every day and wondering what would be served for breakfast and lunch. i can testify firsthand that the school meal program have a positive impact on my life and learning. there are children in classrooms all over this nation in cities, suburbs, and communities who are coming to school extremely eager to learn. in order for students to learn that i levels and must be

prepared and ready to concentrate by starting their day off with a nutritious breakfast. the numbers show that one out of five school-age children struggle was under this country. i can tell you that on a more personal note and a half 65 percent of my students who receive free and reduced breakfast and lunch daily and are still struggling with having enough the. i can also tell you that this makes it harder for them to learn. i am not alone. there are teachers and principals all over this country who will tell you the same thing to watch children in classrooms all over the nation's, cities and suburbs who are coming to school to on regular. in some cases the nutritious school breakfast and lunch are the only meals that students have on a daily basis. children who consistently do not get enough to eat tend to go to

then there's more often, have trouble focusing on lessons which often result in offcast behavior and difficulties with sharing their best thinking on tests. research shows that students who do get enough nutrition on a daily basis feel better, learn more, develop good eating habits, and grow up stronger. we spend so much time and thought and money in this nation around educating our children. we ask questions like how do we improve test scores, how do we ensure that students graduate? and there are some wonderful programs and innovations to educate kids, but if they're too hungry to learn we have lost them. there are two key times i see hundred is a widespread problem, in the morning and after this summer and the start of the

school year. for a student of low-income families, there nutrition comes from school meals. without school breakfast and lunch the students would not get the nutrition they need. you can really see it in the morning. i have seen students come to school and have not eaten since lunch the day before. irritable, cannot focus, only able to think about where their next meal is coming from. i am grateful that my school has a universal free breakfast program which enables all of my students to receive the church is breakfast and start their day off right. another danger time is over summer vacation. students do not get school meals when school was out of session. you can see a real difference at the start of the school year between students who have enough to eat over the break in the struggle.

the ones who may not have been getting consistent meals are more stressed out, take longer to get into this one of the school year, have forgotten a lot of what they learned the year before, and it makes a real difference with their progress. as a principle i make it my duty to agree by students every morning, and opportunity for me to gauge my students current social emotional state. this particular morning i noticed a student to appeared tired and happy. before i could ask him what was wrong yesterday, are we going to be getting breakfast this morning. i don't have any money. i quickly reassured him that breakfast was waiting for him in his first. claustrum. a sense of release came over his face and he quickly proceeded into the building. this and many other stories confirmed to me how important it

is the schools have a nutritious breakfast and lunch program and how much they rely upon the. i would like to share with your current research conducted by the nonprofit organization that a kid hungry and the consulting firm. they analyze the way hunger affects a child's ability alone. their research focused barely on what happens when students from low-income families could the breakfast every day. here are some of their findings. attendance rate went up, tardiness and absences went down. on average students scored over 17 percent higher on math assessments. higher attendance and test scores are closely tied to graduation rates. students who attend school regularly and receive better grades are 20 percent more likely to graduate.

this has a huge potential impact on their future and hours. high-school graduates are more likely to find better employment , make higher salaries to and become self-sufficient. i think you for the time. once again, and the prague principle of francis scott key middle school. >> thank you for your important testimony. let me start with you. as you said since 2012 the department of defense has expanded its efforts to combat obesity. as you indicate, people would be surprised we start this process talking about what is happening in our military and department of defense, but it is a real and concrete example. i know there's a lot of time and funding being invested.

could you talk more about those investments verses the amount of money being spent to treat obesity? >> as you know, i retired some years ago. i cannot claim to be an expert today, but i know that they have instituted a number of trial programs, healthy base initiatives which include all services to institute programs to increase awareness of the problem among soldiers, sailors, airmen, bari, coast guard. sometimes people don't understand what their diet is doing to them. green says you can eat all of that you want. his good for you.

help you be a better person in the military. if it is yellow maybe not so much. red, avoid that. the air force, i know, as it instituted a program recently on a trial race -- trial basis. again, trying to increase awareness among our airmen to let them know that your nutrition is important and will affect how you perform. of course your performance will affect how well you do in your career. they're is a lot going on, and i know it will expand because this is an important item. the cost of the program is insignificant compared to the cost of treating the problem. over 1 billion to treat obesity.

so it -- you cited $0.14. i think that is 14 billion. >> how your school is working to ensure kids are receiving healthy breakfast and lunch is. >> we were fortunate enough this year to receive a grant from the state that allowed us to have a free breakfast program for not only the 65 percent of students who would receive a free and reduced meal but for all students. we already have in place we call this sustained silent reading in the morning. we were able to bring the

breakfast item into the first classroom. now we call it books and breakfast. it works out nicely. i have seen an increase in attendance. i check it every week. we are certain to check the students come in on time and now there at school and ready to learn. we have seen great increases. another partnership that i formed was what with the university of maryland where they would come in and actually have lessons. so i really think that its starts with advocacy of principle and tapping into resources. i work closely with our food services director in the program in my county. i have consistently asking for opportunities for my students

and community. we were selected, one of 12 schools to receive a summer lunch program. >> thank you. one more question. could you talk from the parents standpoint about working together to make the school programs a success? is a little bit more about how uc parents' involvement. >> first of all, we believe and push a solid well this policy around school systems. pta, we basically use six standards for effective school partnerships and working on issues such as nutrition. welcome and all families and the school, communicating effectively particular programs.

just to give you an example, we understand that, you know, it is important with the family meal, sometimes they do not have the time to properly plan as things. one of the tools we have his partner with the healthy weight commitment foundation and provide grants to a lot of local pta units to help parents work on nutrition and educate them on nutrition. what does a healthy plate look like? what does a healthy grocery shopping look with great? that is what we have been doing. >> thank you very much. >> madam chair, i think you for your testimony. i want to make three quick comments. i appreciate the comment about

the national school lunch program created after world war ii in response to a far too many recruits he now nourished. it is important to think about anything we do in historical context. and i wanted to mention in the ohio chromatic provides all sorts. they announced a plan to reduce under. they view ending hundred not just as a moral issue but also as one of the most important ways to lower health care cost. the summer feeding program in my state, we have russ 600,000 students every day. getting the school free or reduced breakfast or lunch,

600,000 during the school year. we are maybe slightly above the national average, 60,000 students on any single they are participating. he think of the difference. what that says about what we're doing in our we need to go. >> if i had teenaged children i would want them to get francis scott key middle school because i know the leaders and what a difference it makes. everything is better. >> i had a conference, out -- conference call yesterday on the issue of school and summer feeding and asking them to help get the word out. part of it is we only have about

1700 sites, which is more than we have had other summers. we get groups helping us build the sides, build them in may or june and taken down in september . talk to me, if you would, talk to the committee about what that means in terms of the huge dropoff not just weakens and during the school year, but this summer and what that means to children, their development, physical, mental development, operation the next fall for school and all that that means. ..

just a drop in their socialization. i have noticed them misbehaving more. when they know they have food every day and it's in nutritious breakfast and lunch their anxiety doesn't go up. right now is the second to last day of school at my school and

many other middle schools and his principle smack talk we notice the anxiety in our children are really increasing and they think a part of it is because they know they are not going to be able to comment and get their free breakfast and free lunch. i'm fortunate to have a school that will happen at this summer but not all schools in my system have it. only 12. >> talk to me if i could take another few minutes. understanding the problem and maryland this summer feeding program is radically -- roughly 12%. if you have an active middle school like yours with however many students and he said it's a universal free breakfast how many are there in the summer and how can we learn from what you do there in your geographic location to reach to the communities and do better everywhere?

>> thank you. it starts with communicating. that is first. this summer will be my actual first summer with this cool to see exactly how this program works. i do have over 900 students. it's us reaching out to their parents. >> you have 900 during the school year? >> m. it's open to everyone and i'm not sure yet because this will be the first. >> last year do you know how many they had? >> we did not have a summer program so we are excited to have at this year and if i can get back to them what you know the success. >> if i can interrupt again i apologize. sorry madam chair. i don't seems most that i've watched in that part of as an observer the breakfasts and lunches and snacks over the summer are prepared in boxes and all that. will you in the summer feeding

program because you are in the middle school cafeteria will you prepare the same way these breakfasts and lunches the same way you to do return the school year? >> they will get warm lunches. practice is usually cold cereal they have cold cereal or breakfast and a fruit at the lunch will be prepared like during the school year. they will have hired staff to committed in sure that the teachers are teaching and the staff are working. >> reimbursement for this is enough to fund the same kind of feeding program that you do during the school year? >> the same kind of preparation of food you do during the school year? >> asked the county is handling it. >> the county is doing beyond what usda does. >> yes. >> thank you very much an important question we will get into in a reauthorization. we are so lucky on this

committee to have senator brown and senator casey welcome. >> madam chair thank you and thank you for having this hearing with the great testimony here and great witnesses and senator brown was asking a lot of the questions that i think are on the minds of each of us when it comes to kind of the general point the drop-off between the children that get either breakfast or lunch or both during the school year ended the summer a huge drop. in pennsylvania we have more than 1.8 million children enrolled in the school lunch program. a fraction of that are getting help the summer and that's one of our big challenges. i just want to make a brief statement about the philosophy or guiding principle for me. i think one of the problems are nationally in terms of our national programs and national efforts, you remind her call a national strategy which we don't

have her children but i think we need. this question we are examining in this hearing is i think at least one of the four pillars are one of the four parts of the strategy. if we are doing the right thing anywhere long way from this we should make sure every child has health insurance, every child has a quality and early learning opportunity and i must say every child and i mean every single one that has to be the goal that every child has the kinds of basic protections from predators and the number of four not in this order is the issue we are talking about today. children have access to enough food to be -- eat with making sure its nutritious food. if we do those four things for our children we would be a much better country international security would be enhanced. i wanted to start with dr. kurt. the wic program, talk to me

about that in terms of the women infants and children's program as a preventative step to cut back on the potential that child will be obese down the road and if he can talk about that one particular program. >> sure in thank you very much for the program. the women infants children's program represents a great opportunity. in new york they piloted the first changes and we were able to see in our community how the offerings to the mothers were changing more whole grains that are variety of foods from others that are as well as infants and children. more culturally diverse food offerings as well which we also know it's very appropriate if the family comes from a certain cultural background yet what they are offered as an relative to the parents who are serving these meals it's not really going to work. i think it also represents a great window in attrition and as

we look at another way to our reserve families. if we can get wic workers and are offices in waiting rooms two days a month where they can be there and make available the information to families we feel that's a huge advantage. i've mentioned before 90% of the children are committed in the city of rochester qualify for free and reduced lunch and because of that the whole school gets universal lunch program as well. in the two largest praxis of the city are some training practice affiliated with another hospital in our system we have about 13 or 14,000 patients in each of them. 65% if not more our medicare medicaid eligible and they know just what those two practices we reach approximately 45 to 50% of the children in the city. just with those two sites linking us to wic and with enrollments represent a great opportunity get that information out. for the past couple of years we have been working with their food pantry agency organizing the summer no programs as well as they have the disease to get

information about where summer meals are into the pediatric practices. when kids are coming in for summer camp physical or elm as we have that information available. we always tried to think a season or two ahead enough than one of the strategies available to specifically. i'm fortunate because where he trained at rochester the concept of pediatric was born because we thought we had to reach us at children. we have to great job with vaccines in preventing some of the illnesses in kids that we are seeing this wave of new morbidity and nutrition and physical activity and mental issues are part of that wave. so we have to think outside the four walls of our office. >> i was going to ask you a question and i will ask you to question my own way. if you just look at one indicator of how we were doing in terms of national policy that undergirds the national strategy for helping pregnant women i don't think we have gotten a high letter grade. maybe a t and that is my opinion

that we have a long way to go in with plays a role in that as you know. i know we are almost out of time but i wanted to ask our diplomatic stanislaus to maybe on a lighter note when we talk about irritability in the morning and sustained silent reading periods. that might help in the senate. [laughter] we don't need more irritability. we have got plenty about the sustained silent reading we should consider for senators and we are pretty irritable when we are not being -- eating. i would like to say as kids learn more they will earn more later. you can't learn if you are hungry. you've can't learn if you have a lot of other things happening but just as basic fundamental question that the trouble that children have concentrating because of of access to food or

nutritious food. talk about that for a moment. >> i think for me personally because i was one of those children and i have a personal connection to what that really feels like if you don't have your breakfast or you don't have dinner because there's nothing at home to eat and you are waiting to come to school for that meal, i can get it because i can just kind of envision what that feels like because i went through it. so i understand. even when my students as middle schools we all know at times they say oh i'm fine where they try to be too proud i know what that really means. it may just mean taking them to another location and saying here's your breakfast. so yes the place of very heavy

role. that is why i think is the principal you really need to be in touch with the social and emotional side of the way children are and get to know them and get to know their families. unfortunately there is a really big stigma with being a student who receives free and reduced meals. for some reason they just know that a student who receives free and reduced meals but by having a breakfast program it made such a difference because now any child it doesn't matter the income of their parent can get their mail in the morning and it's no stigma attached. so it's really pushing students pass that in order to help them unlock their best thinking. because if you are hungry you are not going to concentrate. you may get some of the information that you are going

to miss most of the and at times the hunger and the misbehavior tend to go hand-in-hand. once you take care of that fundamental need you often find that students are able to elevate their progress throughout the course of the day and throughout the course of the year. year. >> thanks very much and thank you madam chair. >> thank you. senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much. i was at a judiciary hearing where he had some buzz that i know i was in the right hearing when i saw senator gillibrand orange peels right here. thank you so much to our witnesses and thank you to chairman for holding this hearing. in 2010 we overwhelmingly approved major reform to the child nutrition programs through the hunger for kids act and i supported that legislation until very strongly about it and i

opposed some of the current efforts to roll it back. i think that we have shown a bit of progress with some stability in the numbers and the rate of childhood obesity but i think we all agree there's a lot more work to be done and i guess i would start with you. in your testimony you included an antidote about school kids in the consumption of nearly 2 million candy bars pretty think he said a wait weight more than uss midway aircraft carri carrier. it's quite a picture and i worked closely with senator harkin to change the standards for vending vending machines in à la carte lines and the smart snacks in school provision takes effect as you know july 1. in your view what role do vending machines at à la carte lines play in qualifications and recruitment? >> we all know that sugar is a primary contributor to this problem and deal consumption of sugar. i'm not an expert on what's

going on in today's schools because my kids grow up a long time ago but i can relate a tale from one of my partners in this effort related to the fact that when he was a child growing up in north carolina they had cigarettes in those schools. this is a place where kids go to get bad habits reinforced. our experience in the military is that by the time we get them as recruits it's almost too late to influence their habits because we all know that we develop eating habits early. i like the things that my mother fed me when i was a child. i'm 72 years old and nothing has changed. these habits our children formed by accessing these vending machines with unhealthy foods, sugary drinks, twinkies you name it shape their habits going

forward and that affects our ability has military services to recruit adequately and that countries to the fact that only 25% of enlistment eligible youth could join the military if they walked into the recruiters office today. so we need to get a handle on it. >> okay ms. stanislaus thank you for your work. as the principal my mom taught second grade until she was 70 years old and she had 30-second graders at age 70 so i really appreciate your work. as implementation of their healthy hunger for kids back in today's usda has provided additional assistance including 25 seconds -- 25 million grant funding to purchase kitchen equipment to provide healthier news. as an administrator who works closely with the cafeteria in your school do you think there's going to be more investment in kitchen equipment in order to

provide healthy meals? >> i think for my counting the food services and administrators often visit our schools to monitor and ensure the lunch as we are serving our healthy. i have to say my county has done a really great job with giving our school and all the schools across the county kind of a guideline as to what is acceptable, nutritional values. the days of pizza parties are gone because we want to ensure that the foods we are serving are of high nutritional value. i think about the vending machine. we do have a vending machine that is on a timer and i thank you for ensuring that we do have healthy snacks in the vending machine that are not only befitting what the expectation here is for this committee but

also the expectation for my county. so students guess they are allowed to go to the vending machines but after they have eaten their meals. getting back to the equipment in the kitchen everything for a kitchen we are pretty much doing okay but if there is ever anything that we need the county is right there to support my staff. >> thank you and their state has been a leader in bringing the farm to school program. i'm out of time here but i will ask you about that in writing. so thank you very much for all your work and we know that change is easy but i think the standards are very important and i think now's the time to roll them back so thank you. >> thank you very much. senator thune. >> thank you madam chairwoman and thank you for being here and providing great insight on this important subject. general thank you for your

service. welcome back. it's nice to see you again. i'm interested in the fact that 25% of our young people 17 to 24 eligible and you listed academic preparedness, obesity and criminal records as the three and where does obesity fit into that and how has that changed in the time that you were in the service relative to those other factors? >> well on the first people are disqualified sometimes for multiple reasons. it's a little hard to pin down exactly what percentage is due to overweight or obesity but it's better than one in five of the disqualified applicants are attributable to overweight or obesity. the change is dramatic of course over the course of my service. i became a -- in 1964. it was a very different country

than and obesity was not nearly the problem that we have today. i can't give you the number but i would guess it was below 10%. we are protected from service because of our weight. cnp said 1200 a year are discharged because of that. when they are discharged we assume they have got the weight requirements and how to set attribute to serve as? >> most of them are borderline when they came in and of course we feed them very well. [laughter] we exercise a lot but we offer a lot of food and sometimes it's due to other factors. they have consumed so many sugary drinks rather than milk and too few vegetables so their bones are brittle. we wind up with both a weight related problem and a diet related problem.

so they might suffer fractures or serious brains or whatever but there are a lot of issues with those. every time we have to discharge one for these problems we spend $75,000 to recruit replacing trained to the tune of about $90 million a year. see i could direct this to anybody on the panel but just what can be done to encourage parents to do a better job and take more responsibility for finding healthy nutritious meals for children? people hearken back to their younger days. when i was growing up i grew up in a small town and we could have a school lunch program so if they didn't go home they brought a sack lunch to school. we live close enough school that we went home at my parents both work. somehow my mother managed to get up in the morning and get something for us for breakfast

and put something in the ovens for lunch. it's a different world today but what can we do to encourage and better incentivize parents to complement the meals provided at the schools and ensure that our kids are getting nutrition that they need? >> i can speak on that topic. from the standpoint of i get to meet apparent that does want to provide the basic necessities as we have heard and feeding and sleeping are probably the most important things to a parent of a newborn. it's really important to think about that message very early. we are looking at research that says that the time of conception and during pregnancies when mothers are planning what they're going to do for their child or how they in a number of things that go on to sustain those behaviors very early. it's really important to

understand and when i say parents unfortunately this does become a burden of mothers because of their role so i think it's important to understand that identifying these issues very early at the health of pregnancy can can be one of the early windows to identify where parents feel it is normal or not our mall and what is healthy versus perceived healthy. we have hit on history a lot here and i find it important. one of the best aggregates i have found is -- because that can be a great resource for the family. unfortunately many of the families i see not really the traditional family and may not have the same social support and social structure that can give that type of beneficial anecdotal evidence. it's important in the evidence it's very difficult to the grabbing kids. it's using history, using history and providing resources

and getting families to adopt these is an important time because it can imprint these babies throughout their lifetime. >> you think -- is it a disincentive to parents when would increase the number of meals and parents start shifting that responsibility to the schools and sing the schools will take care of that? >> is an important balance to try to strike because the parents are zooming and the parents do have respect for the schools to respect their child so they are assuming that it's the right thing that's been done and as we have had parents engage schools around the pta and the school wellness policies they become shocked when they are nursing what's available. i think it's a balance of the responsibility of the parent as well as the school. that is why i have parents involved in the process moving this forward very well. >> my time has expired so thank

you madam chairwoman. >> thank you very much. senator gillibrand. >> thank you madam chairwoman for holding this hearing. i'm very grateful. mr. thornton with the start of summer upon us and reminded many for low-income students and children will lose access to school breakfasts and lunches that they rely on during the school year and hunger and obesity go up during summer vacation. the program ensures low-income children have access to healthy foods throughout the summer. most programs occur in tandem with education and enrichment programs that keep kids safe during the summer months. despite they reach a fraction of children and many children do not have adequate access and make a hundred in the summertime. can you talk about the need to ensure access to healthy meals here found so they returned to the school year healthy and ready to learn? >> senator thank you for the question. quickly to address, we end one

of my things as i talk to parents around the country is personal accountability and education and things to begin at home and as dr. cook mentioned earlier different people come from different stages in life. i'm one of those kids that did not have during the summers booed and things like that. my family did the best they could but again we have to keep that in mind as we look at the public school system as a public good and in these type of programs to help kids that don't have the privilege or opportunity as other kids have had. senator the programs we are looking at in working for four children we are actually working with secretary until set and the department of agriculture and other organizations to help find resources to get additional food

and things for this kids and recognizing as we heard the principal talk about today the impact that it has on the academic performance and coming back to school after having to deal with that. so very directly we are working with governmental agencies and epic is to try to get those programs in the communities. >> thank you. dr. cook in new york we talk a lot about the intersection of childhood obesity and actual hunger and the quality of the nutrition that some of our most obese children are seeing is so low that they are actually still starving. we addressed this in a farm bill with food deserts trying to ensure that inner cities are remote cities have access to fresh vegetables and fruits. in a state is wealthier bridge

as new york but if you can talk about the intersection of hunger and obesity in what are the dynamics at play and what are your best ideas for this woman christian program to combat both or any other programs you think are worth mentioning? >> thank you very much before the question senator. hunger and obesity is an important and complex one and as research has shown the body physiologically the attached to these different states. anecdotally the story is at the beginning of the month families have more food and at the end of the month is less so the eating patterns are different at the beginning of the month versus the ending of the month. that has an impact on the body and biologically we are still cavemen so when we put on calories the body's metabolism to restore that alters to hold onto that to defend that way

because we know it to survive. even though it's not the stone age are bodies physiologically still respond that way which makes weight loss extremely difficult. we have a person who has gained a tremendous amount of weight for whatever reason whether the origins of hunger stress depression overfeeding and cyclic feeding patterns that you would see adding more calories at the beginning of the month versus the end that makes it more difficult to lose weight. the stress that comes with hunger drives up our month that drive-up appetite so that the stress that goes on over children will be issued as one of the manifestations of it. as we look at these children metabolically even though the wait may be normal or high they are nutrient deficient. we still see many children obese children who are iron deficient who are borderline vitamin d not deficient because while they get excess calories they are not getting enough nutrients. in childhood especially in

infancy and hybrid when the brain is growing just like it's more susceptible to a small level of the toxin like lead a small amount of lead fed to a child or a child is exposed as a father has an impact on the brain. very concerning the finishers in science is coming along suggesting some of the same bindings. because of nutritional deficiencies is it affecting the developmental growth in the brain growth in children? >> can you talk about ways in participation in school programs to offer breakfast or lunch for all students to participate for free or implementing a breakfast program? >> i still struggle every year that having my parents complete the form that will make them eligible for their students to receive free and reduced meals.

as stated earlier i currently have slightly over 65% of my students who are eligible for that but i can assure you that i have more children in my building whose parents may not have felt comfortable filling out that form because it's in his son stigmatizes them. once we received the free breakfast program for all students took that stigma away. so wouldn't it be amazing to have a free breakfast program and a free lunch program so that it would take away astigmatism that goes with having to fill out that form and turn it in an oh my gosh what are they going to think about many? so i struggle with that every year. sometimes it's calling a parent into my office and having a heart to heart and letting them know it's okay, i will take the

form and personally turn it in. it makes that difference but that's the difference in the time that i'm willing to take in many of my colleagues to ensure children get what they need. so when saying that if it doesn't change just exciting students about learning about nutrition like dr. cook was saying using food as fuel as opposed to i just want to eat it because it tastes good. trying different things will excite them an intern i thought at the principal it excites the parents. but going back to if it were a free-for-all i imagine that everyone would partake in the program. >> thank you very much. senator boozman we are so glad to see you. >> thank you madam chair. thank you very much. ms. stanislaus i really don't

have a question for you but i do want to thank you as the principal. i know how hard you work. i was on the school board for several years and i tell my colleagues it doesn't matter what issue we are discussing here there are many school board issues that are much tougher so we appreciate all that you represent and the people that work with you and for you to get this done. dr. cook in your testimony tell the story about a small change that made a huge difference for a young person and you got them back into the normal bmi range. is there any other low-hanging fruit out there that we can use the same manner? >> the area that we look at. >> it is free. >> an low-hanging vegetables i would add. [laughter] but that those are key points and it's important to find where the evidence is and what is feasible. i can give patients all kinds of

advice but if it doesn't fit in their lifestyle in their day in routine is not going to work so relative in terms of the low-hanging fruit early and often giving the message seven times this kind of a joke but a useful strategy so if we have some of the same message is that we are using in our offices are being used in schools and daycare centers around screen time physical activity back to play where they are running around not necessarily in structured sports, fruits and vegetables are really important and probably the toughest of all the behaviors because of excess presentations on the steps that go into it the liquid calories are very a cold and i say that because you can drink this package full of water or it could be a sugary beverage and a mob of fullness you feel is the same. it will probably be minimal yet you could have 600 calories in there or you could as zero. an amount of time a parent or a child needs to be active to burn 600 calories would probably drive the parents.

because of the amount of activity silly big misperception is children are very active in the burns a lot of the calories. so is liquid calories being an important first step. screen time. >> so you run into that same problem besides the coke type beverages or whatever but you run into the same problems with some of the juice high calorie sugar? or carbohydrates? >> absolutely. almost all the liquid calories calories we drink will fall into that range and has a similar pattern so the low-hanging fruit a lot of times tend to be liquid calories. screen time is during profamily profamily and bringing more evidence to reinforce to parents the screen time is mindless time. they are not. it's more time for consumption so if you sit in front of the screen for five or six hours you may not burn 100 calories. you may eat 250 calories and is

that all called eating that you don't catch in the same thing with kids. it becomes a repetitive behavior. it doesn't allow kids to relax and fall asleep and that again is a very important concern for her parents. having the collateral advantage of the small steps can be beneficial and if they can give these age-appropriate simple steps in our office and in other settings like school early childcare programs are afterschool after-school programs we are hitting them with the same message multiple times. seeing your testimony you reported that normal bmi range. bmi has had some problems with it in the sense that there are body types and things. i hear from parents occasionally that you know you have a kid that is a good healthy normal looking kid and yet the bmi says that they are obey's and their

body types are different. it is there another test is coming out that perhaps will do a better job of that of really doing a better job of identifying where we are? >> that's a very important point because bmi is a useful tool on a population level and if measuring the top third bonus range for health on the individual level it measures weight either as fat or as muscle and i always caution peterson's to think about it when we try to use that data. the higher the cut-off the more concern i have been in a young child i will ask the futures and if they are asking for vice what is the parents await? having to appease parents as a 3-year-old is a much bigger risk factor for that child than the adult so additional measures comes out of the research we are trying to develop and looking at children.

children aren't studied it closely and they're paying more attention to it and we need to understand what is normal physiological growth. the second is we don't have as many children going through normal physiologic growth in our modern. then we would have 30 years ago and i also make the point that parents will say they are big boned or fairly large most toddlers three, four, five crucial don't have that much muscle mass selling ibm -- bmi is high is more likely to be composed of fat. when his teenagers and muscle and fat mass source changing i agree. when we identify bmi is the first death and not every tumorous cancer, not every high bmi is obesity. >> i think you make a good point. even among the pediatric doctors who are so well-educated and that's my concern is that you

know at the school level for you have an administrator or whoever's doing these programs and many of our smaller schools there are people like that they simply look at a number and it's automatically that way. >> i agree and i think schools have a lot of things on their plate and doing fitness testing is beneficial and increased cardiovascular fitness is beneficial for all kids but as we have seen in parent surveys they want to hear about this and talk about this with a primary care provider. even the hint offload some of those burdens from doing it the few but loud stories of this isn't of this is and really enacted measure of my child. that may or may not be true but maybe if we put it in a different context they can take some of the burden off of schools. he can put in a setting where parents may be more comfortable to discuss it. >> thank you very much really

important questions and discussions. we are wrapping up but i would like to ask you to view a closing question the same questionably helpful to us. because we are talking about child nutrition and the impact within the school but also more broadly for our country. if you could give the committee a piece of advice as we consider reauthorizing child nutrition programs but would you say is the most important thing we can do to address some of the concerns and the ideas that you have raised today and i will start with general hawley. ca learned during my career the most valuable trait you can have this persistence. as they say persistence wills out some might bias would be to stay with it. this is an important program. i'm sure it's not perfect and it can be improved but i think it's beginning to work.

my view is that this is a cultural issue in our country and cultures take a long time to change. so we shouldn't expect instant results from any program. lisa ball one that tries to change the nation's eating habits and so my advice would be to stay with it and keep up the good work and i think in time we will see the results. >> great advice. mr. thornton. >> yes we talk about -- it remains the same whether you live in iowa or georgia. giving parents access to healthier foods one school at a time so while facing the same obstacles this is the weight way to figure out the resistance is to make a difference. we have worked very hard throughout the history in pta to

ensure that kids have this access to education and proper nutrition and proper fitness. it's very important again i thank you and the committee and all the panels for engaging on this topic which is critical. to the future and their children in our country and make no mistake the decisions to reauthorize or have a definite impact on our schools, our hospitals are economy, our military in their homes and most importantly our kids. i thank you for this time. >> thank you very much. dr. cook. >> thank you very much for the question and i find it a persistent question that we get a lot related to this. i give presentations and was the one thing if i could do but you do something would be to get everyone to realize there's not one thing we can do. everything is part of the problem. each one of the strategies and puzzles represents 1% of the solution. he can't be left off and is not

the end sewing to include all of this. and to think global and act local. that's where i find a lot of social change occurs at the grassroots level where can take hold and have that relevant context is really important. i thank you for the question and to conclude with obesity and hunger we discuss this a lot. i think it important that obesity has come up with a disease that is probably the one disease that still exist that doesn't carry the stigma of other diseases. that's even more so a problem for children and adolescents. important to make us about health and promoting health across all children and families. >> thank you very much and principal stanislaus. >> you mentioned a few times today that the schools are really on the front lines. i thank you for this opportunity to share my experiences with our school and my school system.

if i were to do something i would say let's continue this conversation and think about what actions we will take and that we can take back to our schools and our school distric districts. continue the opportunities to increase the education for parents. just as one principal schoolhouse i often find we struggle with funding to have different events for families, afterschool events. it does take money to put these things together so at times we are robbing peter to pay paul for our local communities. if we can think about opportunities for these partnerships are the universities as i mentioned earlier or increased funding so we can have buses after school so we cannot only have a the nutritious after-school program and snack program but also physical activities and clubs

that students can be a part of so they are not sitting in front of the screen at home. i think this continued conversation this conversation does not need to stop here. getting feedback from other principals in schools would be a great welcome to different educators and all educators. thank you. >> thank you to each of you on this discussion does not stop here. this is just the beginning and it was important to me that we start with the big picture of why we have these programs. why should we care about this? we are going to be hearing from all perspectives and working with everyone to make sure the way things are done makes sense and are workable and we certainly want to move forward not backward. we tend to move backward so we plan to move forward. we think it's important that we talk about why is the country and why is a community by his parents and family members we need to care.

so thank you again to everyone. let me just remind colleagues that any additional questions for the record should be submitted to the committee clerk five business days today and after 5:00 p.m. on friday june 20 and the hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

see religion as a powerful identity forming mechanism. it is part of human societies figuring out who is us and who is them. who is my group and who is the outgroup? religion answers that question pretty easily. if you pray like me if you to eat like me, if you go to the same church as i do then you are us and if you don't you wear them. you can see very easily how that kind of us, them in group a group mindset could very easily

lead to extremism to marginalization. after a lesser remind people religion may be the most powerful form of identity formation but just as powerful is violence. how do you know who is us and who has been? if you are fighting alongside me you are us. if you are fighting against me wear them so far from religion and violence being these two things that are at odds and should have nothing to do with each other they have as everyone knows throughout history they are much more aligned and we would like them to be.

next secretary of state john kerry calls for comprehensive global strategy to protect the world's oceans. we will also hear from the president of the pacific nation of kiribati which consists of 33 islands vulnerable to rising sea levels. this oceans conference hosted by the state department as an hour and 15 minutes. >> welcome to be our ocean conference hosted by the u.s. department of state. ladies and gentlemen please welcome the secretary of state of the united states of america president of the republic of karau plus and the for growth energy and the environment. applause go.

>> good morning everyone. president tom secretary kerry ministers ambassadors and other distinguished guests of here in the lloyd henderson room and joining us on line i am delighted to welcome you all to washington and to thank you for all the work that you were doing to advance the cause of ocean conservation. participants for more than 80 countries are here today representing foreign economic and oceans ministries, nongovernmental organizations, foundations, private companies, the scientific and research communities and ordinary citizens. this diversity reflects one of the central tenets of this conference that the solutions to the challenge of spreading our oceans require commitment and

contributions from everyone. we chose the title of our ocean for this event to communicate the facts ocean scientists understand well, the water covering two-thirds of the earth's surface is really a single interconnected global ocean. because there is only one interconnected and interdependent ocean pollution weren't sustainable fishing in one corner of the ocean matters even to those living thousands of miles away. while the ph of ocean water may slightly -- from one ocean to their rising acidification threaten ocean ecology everywhere. along with the atmosphere are ocean is the of all of our shared assets and performed performs the critical role of cycling water carbon and nutrients throughout our planet. millions of people depend on it for their livelihoods. our ocean is also uniquely vulnerable to collective damage

from the behavior of billions of individuals each of them may be acting rationally from his or her point of view. over the next two days will examine three critical issues for ocean health. sustainable fisheries marine pollution and ocean acidification. we will review the science of the challenges we face and the way they have impacted the communities around the world. despite their real and growing challenges facing our ocean practical and effective solution exists at every level of our societies. there's a role for governments and we expect some impressive announcements and new initiatives over the next two days. they are equally important roles for civil society private companies philanthropic organizations and individuals and most importantly for collaborations between these groups. collective action is critical and so is individual action for at the end of the day is individuals who have the power

to change their behavior and behavior of their governments. as we planned this converts over the last few months we have been overwhelmed at the enthusiastic support from our partners and individuals around the world. the support has bloomed on line. just a few minutes ago the department states first thunderclap or coordinated social media burst reached over 5.3 million people all from individuals organizations adding their voices to this cause. ankara to everyone here to reach out to your networks and spread the news about this conference. we look at this conference is more than a d-day event. we are committed to working together with all of you to catalyze new initiatives, raise awareness of the oceans challenges and step-by-step to advance a concrete plan of the steps we must all take to conserve the ocean. it is now my great pleasure to introduce the inspiration and a

host of this conference, 68 secretary of state john f. kerry. applause go i have to advocate for him just a little bit more before he talks. secretary kerry has been a passionate advocate for ocean conservation since his childhood in massachusetts. there is 20 years in the ascendant and during his 18 months as secretary of state. he has integrated oceans climate energy and other cutting-edge environmental issues into the mainstream of u.s. foreign policy like no other secretary of state before him. with great pleasure secretary carry the floor is yours. applause go. >> cap the thank you very much. welcome everybody.

distinguished guests all and many government leaders and many people as kathy mentioned from foundations from ngos from various interested entities really delighted to have such a next ordinary expert concerned group come together to discuss this really critical issue. and i am personally very grateful to the leadership of our traffic undersecretary for economic growth energy and the environment. it's a big package obviously, who has been working diligently to put this together. you can tell from the surroundings this will be interactive. there will be a lot of visual input to digest and a great deal of science to document what we are talking about here over the course of these next couple of days.

i am really grateful to my team here at the state department that is worked over time under cathy's leadership to help bring everybody together here today. i thank you all for coming. i welcome you to the state department to the roy henderson conference room particularly those of you who are representing countries from around the world in the private sector civil society academia as well as many many people joining us on line via live stream through state.gov then i hope many more people will join us over the course of the next two days. as many of you know convening a conference like this has been a priority of mine for some period of time. i really started thinking about this when i was still in the senate and we wanted to try to pull it together at and last year we did -- you know we had a political moment here in

washington. polite diplomatic ease which prevented us from going forward at that time that candidly i think it is worked for the better because it gave us more time to think about how to make this conference perhaps even more effective and how to maximize what we are doing here. a commitment to protecting the ocean which we all share has really been a priority of mine for a long time as kathy mentioned a moment ago. literally from the time i was growing up as a child in massachusetts when i first dipped my toes into the mud off of woods hole oceanographic and buzzards bay and the cape and was introduced to clamming and fishing and all those great joys of the ocean i have had the same norma's love and respect for what the ocean means to us.

i went into the navy partly through that and i had the pleasure of crossing the pacific both ways by ship and passing through many different parts of the pacific ocean region. it's sort of in my dna. my mother's family was involved way back in the early days of trade through the oceans and indeed my father was a passionate sailor who in his retirement found a way to sail across the ocean several times. so i learned very early on to appreciate this vast expanse of the ocean. so vast that three-quarters of our planet is ocean. someone might have called our planet ocean not earth if it was based on that but obviously it is not. the stewardship of our ocean is not a one-person event. it's a nation event. it's a country event, it's a

universal requirement all across the planet. i tried very hard when i was in the senate as chairman of the senate oceans and subcommittee where we rewrote her medicine fishery laws and created the stillwagon sanctuary coastal zone management act enforcement flood insurance rethinking it all the these things that have to do with development and runoff and nonsource point solution and all the things that concern us as we come here today. that is a concern that i bring to this effort as secretary of state now. the reason for that is really very simple. for anyone who questions why are we here when there are so many areas and conflicts and so many issues of vital concern is their art and regrettably because of that i will not be at every part

of this conference because we have much to do with respect to iraq and other emergencies that we face but no one should mistake that the perfection of our oceans is a vital international security issue. it's of vital security issue involving the movement of people in the likelihood of people the capacity people to exist and live where they live today. the ocean today supports the livelihoods of up to 12% of the worlds population but it is also essential to maintaining the environment in which we all li live. it's responsible for recycling things like water carbon nutrients throughout our planet throughout the ecosystem. system is an important word so we have air to breathe water to drink and it is home to literally millions of species. protecting our