Chambliss, Harkin partake in polite food fight
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.
I needed to put my 3-D glasses on to make out the partisan divide between Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Sen. Tom Harkin at a hearing that ended just a few minutes ago at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Clifton Road in DeKalb.
The point of the Agriculture Committee hearing was hard to argue with: “Benefits of Farm-to-School Projects, Healthy Eating and Physical Activity for School Children.” Real Mom and apple-pie stuff. Or at least, Mom and apple.
Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who chairs the committee, and Chambliss, the Georgia Republican who’s the ranking minority member, came down from D.C. to hear the testimony of two prominent public health experts, a U.S. Department of Agriculture child nutrition expert, and a man who runs a farmers’ coop that sells local produce to school districts.
As is customary for such events, both senators began by praising each other and lauding their great friendship. In other words, they disagree with each other on just about everything.
Early on in hearing, Bill Dietz, director of the CDC’s division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity, noted that childhood obesity has been deemed by public health experts to be an “epidemic” — and that isn’t being addressed effectively. “We’re about where tobacco was in the 1960s,” Dietz said.
You just know that’s the kind of talk that drives a conservative crazy: Read more
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