May 7, 2009 -- On Thursday, May 7, 2009, the Obama Administration proposed a $3.4 trillion budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010.  While the proposal includes increases for many domestic programs, including the Child Nutrition Programs, it does include $17 billion worth of cuts for 121 programs.

The proposed budget requests $1 billion per year for 2009 Child Nutrition Reauthorization, indicating the President’s commitment to ending childhood hunger by 2015.  According the White House, this annual increase is for program reforms aimed at “improving access, enhancing the nutritional quality of school meals, expanding nutrition research and evaluation, and improving program oversight.”  These funds are subjected to PAYGO rules, which mean that in order to allocate them, Congress must find cuts in other programs.

SNA, along with the Child Nutrition Forum and the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity, are actively advocating for a substantial increase in child nutrition funding as part of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization process in order to increase access to healthful school meals.   

Mandatory Programs and Financing (in millions of dollars)  

 Discretionary Activities (in millions of dollars)

As outlined in the President’s February budget message, much of the overall funding in the FY 2010 budget goes towards several select programs.  An additional $750 billion would be sent to banks to aid in the financial rescue efforts. $130 billion would be spent on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while approximately $634 billion will be put in a “reserve fund” to address changes in the health care system.  President Obama’s budget would also roll back the tax reductions for families with incomes exceeding $250,000 a year put in place by former President George W. Bush.  The proposed budget would also cut farm subsidies.  To make revenue, the budget includes a provision that would create a greenhouse gas trading system.