Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman says there are 34 million people in the United States who are "food insecure," and children need to be educated on nutritional needs in order to forsake a dependence on junk foods.

In a Tuesday address to the National Association of WIC (women, infants and children) directors, Glickman said in the last six years, WIC participants have increased from 5.9 to 7.3 million.

"The challenge to everyone who has anything to do with what children eat is giving them the tools for better nutrition," he said.  "...the dietary habits we teach our children when they are very young are most likely the habits they will carry with them through life."

Children "are awash in junk foods and not getting enough milk, meat and vegetables," Glickman continued.  Seventy-five percent of children say they eat at least one vegetable a day, but the most popular vegetable is a potato, "usually in the form of potato chips or french fries.  When you get to the most nutritious veggies, like the dark greens, less than 7% of kids touch them," he added.

USDA is asking Congress for $13 million for a pilot school breakfast program, $15 million to stimulate gleaning and food recovery efforts and another $5 million for the WIC farmers market program.

"We may have our work cut out for us, beating back efforts by the majority in Congress who, if they get their way, will pass a 12% across the board cut in discretionary spending that could result in $500 million decreased funding for WIC next year and over $1 billion through 2004," Glickman said.