Michelle Obama's nutrition bill derailed

[Geee]

Politico:


House Republicans scuttled a pet bill of Michelle Obama, using a procedural gambit to knock her child nutrition bill off the House floor Wednesday.

House Democrats scrapped plans to vote on an Obama-backed child nutrition bill Wednesday after Republicans threatened to force a procedural vote that would bar funds from going to child care institutions that employ individuals who refuse criminal sex-offender background checks, or lie on them.

The amendment created a bind for Democratic leaders: a vote in favor would send the bill back to the Senate, threatening its enactment in this Congress, and a vote against it would put Democrats on the record as opposing restrictions on federal funding for institutions that employ workers who have committed sex offenses against children.

"I am disappointed Republicans chose to play politics with a bill that enjoys strong bipartisan support and would increase access to school meal programs, improve the standards of food provided, and help reduce childhood obesity," Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement. "The real purpose of this motion to recommit was to delay this bipartisan bill from being signed into law.