When Barack Obama took office, his wife, Michelle, had to find an issue to make her own. She picked the incredibly controversial topic of food.
Yes, food. She decided that, from the lofty perch of the first lady’s office, she would push healthy food. Like “tender baby arugula” — at $20 a pound. And maybe a “$19 bison steak.” (For a wonderful read, check out Dana Milbank’s “Washington Sketch: Michelle Obama Gets Her Farmers Market,” which he once told me got him banned from the White House Christmas party.)
The whole thing morphed into an exercise program — Let’s Move! — and eventually made its way into the nation’s schools.
The result was not pretty — or appetizing.
One Twitter user noted that school lunches were far better — in Nicaragua.
But now, all of that is about to be a thing of the past, The Hill reports.
Newly minted Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is expected to unveil a new rule Monday aimed at giving schools more flexibility in meeting federal nutrition standards for school lunches.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Friday that Perdue and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) will make the announcement at the Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg, Va., where they are expected to eat lunch with the students.
Republicans have long been trying to dial back the standards that became a pillar of former first lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to curb childhood obesity in the U.S.
Roberts introduced legislation with Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) last year to give schools two more years to meet new reductions on sodium, but the bill never passed.
Renewed efforts to ease the federal standards came as disappointing news to some advocates.
So, Trump’s not only making America great again, he’s making school lunches great again. And that is indeed a worthy accomplishment.