Video from All favorites #893

Hi, it's Marie Glusenkamp-Perez here. I want to tell a quick story about a bill I'm working on called the Banana Act. I was talking to a constituent who works in a daycare and they told me they are not legally allowed to peel bananas or oranges for the kids. She said peeling fruit is considered food prep, but they can't open a bag of chips. This seemed like a problem to me, so I started looking into it. For months, licensing officials and regulators told me, no, no, no, no, she just doesn't understand the rules. She must have misinterpreted the law. Her manager is lying to her. But I kept pushing and eventually confirmed that yeah, she was right. They would have needed to install like six more sinks before they could legally serve fresh fruit. Even a simple bad policy like this can have huge ripple effects. It means that kids are eating less healthy and more processed foods. It means our small farmers are cut out of providing nutritious fruits and vegetables to their own communities. As a small business owner, I've seen this disconnect before, a disconnect between what laws make for good reading on paper and what laws would make for good policy in the real world. And I think a key part of this disconnect, illustrated by the pushback I got when I started asking about the sinks, is this ingrained disregard for working people by policymakers in DC. They did not take input from someone working in a daycare seriously. And that's wrong. We can only make policy that really helps people when we listen to folks working here in our communities and ensure they have a seat at the table when we craft and implement legislation. So I'm currently drafting a bill called the Banana Act, which would create a positive right to serve fresh fruits and vegetables in daycare. That might seem like a small change to some people, but it will have ripple effects on the health of our children and the viability of our small farms and help bring down the cost of childcare for all of our families. It's making policy changes like these based on the experience of people who change diapers and turn wrenches and drive trucks in our district that keeps me excited about doing this work. And it's why I'm running for Congress again, to continue to ensure that working folks have a listening ear and a seat at the table.