Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act Summary

Overview

On Wednesday, July 20, 2022 the House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) and House Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee Chair, Susan Bonamici (D- OR) introduced the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act. This bill, an important step forward in the Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) process, proposes several critical improvements to the child nutrition programs, including:

•      An expansion of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) that would allow more schools to serve meals at no charge to all students.
•      A permanent, nationwide Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children (SEBTC) program, which would provide families with students eligible for free or reduced-price school meals with a grocery benefit during summer break.
•      Expanded access to summer meals through a lower area eligibility threshold and an additional daily meal service.
•      An option for non-profit sponsors to operate the Summer Food Service Program year-round.
•      Several modernization and streamlining measures for the WIC program.

In addition to the summary here, please see our statement for more information.

Update: 

The House Education and Labor Committee held its markup of Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 10:15 am. After considering amendments, the committee voted to pass the bill out of committee. Visit the committee's webpage for details and to view the recording. The summary reflects the amendments included in the bill passed out of committee. 

This summary provides details on the provisions of the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act.