Senate Ag Committee Releases Reconciliation bill that harms school meals throughout the U.S.
1 big thing: Senate Agriculture Committee releases Reconciliation bill that harms school meal programs
What’s new: The Senate Agriculture Committee released its Reconciliation bill last week, following closely in line with the House version, named the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Both bills propose dramatic changes to SNAP and Medicaid that would threaten school meal access for millions of children.
The cost shift to states:
- For the first time in SNAP’s 50-year history, the legislation would require states to cover a portion of SNAP benefit costs while also reducing federal administrative funding.
- If states can’t make up for these massive federal cuts with tax increases or spending cuts elsewhere, they would have to cut their SNAP program or opt out entirely, which in turn reduces student eligibility and access to school meals.
Impact to students: Currently, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates 420,000 children would lose access to free and reduced-price meals as their families lose SNAP benefits. This very conservative number doesn’t take into account cascading effects due to schools no longer being eligible for Community Eligibility Programs (CEP) or being unable to afford CEP if they do remain eligible.
Impact to schools: Under-resourced and understaffed schools would be forced to dramatically change their school meal application process creating enormous administrative burdens.
Time is running out! School nutrition programs and the students that rely on them need your voice to urge your legislators and governors to #ProtectSchoolMeals!
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