WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans have temporarily blocked legislation to feed school meals to thousands more hungry children. Republicans used a procedural maneuver Wednesday to try to amend the $4.5 billion bill, which would give more needy children the opportunity to eat free lunches at school and make those lunches healthier. First lady Michelle Obama has lobbied for the bill as part of her "Let's Move" campaign to combat childhood obesity.
House Democrats said the GOP amendment, which would have required background checks for child care workers, was an effort to kill the bill and delayed a final vote on the legislation rather than vote on the amendment.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. said the House would later hold separate votes on the amendment and the bill, which the Senate passed in August. The nutrition bill would then go straight to President Barack Obama for his signature.
Republicans say the nutrition bill is too costly and an example of government overreach.
"It's not about making our children healthy and active," said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn. "We all want to see our children healthy and active. This is about spending and the role of government and the size of government - a debate about whether we're listening to our constituents or not."
Even former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has taken a swipe at the first lady's campaign, bringing cookies to a speech at a Pennsylvania school last month and calling the campaign a "school cookie ban debate" and "nanny state run amok" on her Twitter feed.
The bill would provide money to serve more than 20 million additional after-school meals annually to children in all 50 states. Many of those children now only receive after-school snacks. It would also increase the number of children eligible for school meals programs by at least 115,000, using Medicaid and census data to identify them.
The legislation would increase the amount of money schools are reimbursed by 6 cents a meal, a priority for schools that say they don't have the dollars to feed needy kids.
New standards to improve the meals would not remove popular foods like hamburgers from schools but would make them healthier, using leaner meat or whole wheat buns, for example. Vending machines could be stocked with less candy and fewer high-calorie drinks.
Creation of new standards, which public health advocates have sought for years, has unprecedented support from many of the nation's largest food and beverage companies. The two sides came together on the issue as public pressure to remove junk foods from schools increased.
Congressional passage of the bill would only be the first step. Decisions on what kinds of foods could be sold - and what ingredients may be limited - would be left up to the Agriculture Department.