Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2025

Bill: 119-hr-2680
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5]
Introduced: 2025-04-07
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Latest action: action_date: 2025-04-07
text: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Summaries:

tv_txt: I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2680 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 7, 2025 Mr. Gottheimer (for himself, Mrs. Dingell , Ms. Adams , Mr. DeSaulnier , Mr. Carson , Ms. Chu , Mr. Huffman , Mr. Moulton , Ms. Norton , Ms. Sherrill , Mr. Smith of Washington , Ms. Wasserman Schultz , Ms. Stevens , Mr. Thanedar , and Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce A BILL To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to eliminate reduced price breakfasts and lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining eligibility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 224 percent of the poverty level, and for other purposes.

1. Short title; table of contents (a) In general This Act may be cited as the Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2025 . (b) Table of contents The table of contents for this Act are as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Title I—Repeal of Reduced Price Breakfasts and Lunches Sec. 101. Repeal of reduced price breakfasts. Sec. 102. Repeal of reduced price lunches. Title II—Expansion of Free Lunch Eligibility Sec. 201. Poverty level for free lunch. Sec. 202. Direct certification for children receiving Medicaid benefits. Sec. 203. Retroactive reimbursement. Sec. 204. Increase of community eligibility program multiplier. I Repeal of Reduced Price Breakfasts and Lunches 101. Repeal of reduced price breakfasts (a) In general Section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1758 ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (f) Repeal of reduced price breakfasts Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the reduced price breakfast program is repealed and the Secretary may not provide reimbursements for reduced price breakfasts under this section. . (b) Conforming amendments The Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq. ) is amended— (1) by striking or reduced price each place it appears; (2) by striking for a reduced price each place it appears; (3) by striking or at a reduced price each place it appears; (4) by striking for reduced price breakfasts each place it appears; and (5) by striking and reduced price each place it appears. (c) Further conforming amendments Section 4(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1758(b) ) is amended— (1) in paragraph (1)— (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the second sentence; and (B) by striking subparagraph (C); and (2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph (C). 102. Repeal of reduced price lunches (a) In general The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following: 30. Repeal of reduced price lunches Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the reduced price lunch program is repealed and the Secretary may not provide reimbursements for reduced price lunches under this Act. . (b) Conforming amendments The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq. ) is amended— (1) by striking or reduced price each place it appears; (2) by striking or a reduced price each place it appears; (3) by striking or reduced-price each place it appears; (4) by striking and reduced price each place it appears; and (5) by striking a reduced price each place it appears. II Expansion of Free Lunch Eligibility 201. Poverty level for free lunch Section 9(b)(1)(A) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A) ) is amended— (1) by striking the third sentence; and (2) by striking 130 percent and inserting 224 percent . 202. Direct certification for children receiving Medicaid benefits (a) In general Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1758(b) ) is amended— (1) in paragraph (5) by amending to read as follows: (5) Discretionary certification (A) Free lunches or breakfasts Subject to paragraph (6), any local educational agency may certify any child as eligible for free lunches or breakfasts, without further application, by directly communicating with the appropriate State or local agency to obtain documentation of the status of the child as— (i) a member of a family that is receiving assistance under the temporary assistance for needy families program funded under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq. ); (ii) a homeless child or youth (defined as 1 of the individuals described in section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 11434a(2) )); (iii) served by the runaway and homeless youth grant program established under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5701 et seq. ); (iv) a migratory child (as defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 6399 )); (v) an eligible child (as defined in paragraph (15)(A)); or (vi) (I) a foster child whose care and placement is the responsibility of an agency that administers a State plan under part B or E of title IV of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 621 et seq. ); or (II) a foster child who a court has placed with a caretaker household. (B) Agreements to carry out certification To certify a child under subparagraph (A)(v), a State agency shall enter into an agreement with 1 or more State agencies conducting eligibility determinations for the Medicaid program. (C) Procedures Subject to paragraph (6), an agreement under subparagraph (B) shall establish procedures under which an eligible child may be certified for free lunches under this Act and free breakfasts under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1773 ), without further application (as defined in paragraph (4)(G)). ; (2) in paragraph (6)(A), by striking or (5) both places it appears and inserting (5), or (15) ; and (3) by amending paragraph (15)(A)(i) to read as follows: (i) Eligible child The term eligible child means a child— (I) (aa) who is eligible for and receiving medical assistance under the Medicaid program; and (bb) who is a member of a family with an income as measured by the Medicaid program that does not exceed 224 percent of the poverty line (as determined under the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of section 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act ( 42 U.S.C. 9902(2) , including any revision required by such section)) applicable to a family of the size used for purposes of determining eligibility for the Medicaid program; (II) who is eligible for the Medicaid program because such child receives supplemental security income benefits under title XVI of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1381–1385 ) or State supplementary benefits of the type referred to in section 1616(a) of such Act (or payments of the type described in section 212(a) of Public Law 93–66 ); (III) who is eligible for the Medicaid program because such child receives an adoption assistance payment made under section 473(a) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 673(a) ) or under a similar State-funded or State-operated program, as determined by the Secretary; (IV) who is eligible for the Medicaid program because such child receives a kinship guardianship assistance payment made under section 473(d) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 673(d) ) or under a similar State-funded or State-operated program, as determined by the Secretary, without regard to whether such child was previously in foster care; or (V) who is a member of a household (as that term is defined in section 245.2 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations)) with a child described in subclause (I), (II), (III), or (IV). . (b) Applicability The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to school years beginning on or after July 1, 2025. 203. Retroactive reimbursement Section 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C) ) is amended— (1) by striking Except and inserting the following: (i) In general Except ; (2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) and (II); and (3) by adding at the end the following: (ii) Retroactivity A local educational agency shall revise a previously submitted meal claim to reflect the eligibility approval of a child for free meals for the period that begins on the first day of the current school year. (iii) Meal claim defined In this subsection, the term meal claim means any documentation provided by a school food authority to a State agency in order to receive reimbursement for the cost of a meal served to a child by such school food authority. . 204. Increase of community eligibility program multiplier Section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F) ) is amended by striking clause (vii) and inserting the following: (vii) Multiplier For each school year beginning on or after July 1, 2025, the multiplier shall be 2.5. .