School Meals Expansion Act

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Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 118th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.

D McGarveySponsor

57 cosponsors · 56 D, 1 R

14 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.

This bill expands eligibility for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the school lunch program. It also increases the reimbursement rate for schools under the CEP.

What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · Apr 10, 2023

School Meals Expansion Act

This bill expands eligibility for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the school lunch program. It also increases the reimbursement rate for schools under the CEP. (The CEP allows eligible schools, groups of schools, and school districts the option to offer breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.)

This bill lowers the threshold for a school to participate in the CEP to an identified student percentage (ISP) of at least 25%, from 40%. The ISP is the percentage of students who are eligible for free school meals without a household application, primarily those who are directly certified through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

The bill also increases the reimbursement multiplier for school meals to 2.5 from the current 1.6, effectively increasing the reimbursement rate for the CEP participating schools. The reimbursement multiplier is used to calculate how many meals will be reimbursed at the free meal rate. A higher multiplier means more meals will be reimbursed at this higher rate.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov

About this bill and sources

Official title: School Meals Expansion Act

Latest action (Apr 10, 2023): Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Policy area: Agriculture and Food · Origin: House · Introduced: Apr 10, 2023

Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)

No recorded floor vote found.