Congress must ensure that all children in the U.S. have access to year-round nutrition.

What is it?

Every five years, Congress must review all of the child nutrition programs that provide food to low-income children across the country and throughout the year. Programs reviewed under the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act (CNR) include the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), the Summer Food Service Program, Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and others.

On March 24, 2010, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed a draft of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill, titled the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.”  This bill took important steps towards expanding program access and improving nutritional quality, but included less than half of the funding needed to make serious improvements across programs.  The bill also failed to include a provision allowing large school districts (like Philadelphia) to use a socioeconomic survey instead of individual paper applications to determine children’s eligibility for free school meals.

On June 10, 2010, Chairman George Miller of the House Education and Labor Committee released his version of the child nutrition bill, called the “Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act.”  The bill builds on the Senate’s bill but makes some key improvements, including the universal feeding provision for a socioeconomic survey that Philadelphia advocates and legislators lobbied for.  Unlike in the Senate, this bill was not introduced with money attached, so advocates must continue to push Congress to find a way to fund a $1 billion per year increase for CNR, as proposed in the President’s budget. 

Who does it affect?

The child nutrition programs are designed to reach children at different stages of life and at different times throughout the year, forming a crucial safety net for low-income children and help families stretch limited resources. For example, the WIC Program provides healthy food to women during pregnancy and breast-feeding, and to children from birth to age 5. CACFP provides nutritious food to children in childcare. When children begin full-day school, they can receive free or reduced-priced breakfast and lunch. Free after-school snacks, suppers and summer meals are also available in some communities.

Comparing the House and Senate Bills 

What we like in BOTH the House and Senate bills

• Increases federal meal reimbursement rates for schools who serve better, healthier food at lunch (but only by 6 cents per meal).
• Improves direct certification methods to ensure that children in households receiving SNAP (food stamps) or TANF automatically receive free school meals.
• Introduces a national program for universal meal service (free for all) in schools called “community eligibility” which uses direct certification data and a “multiplier,” instead of individual meal applications. 
• Allows states to extend WIC certification periods for children from 6 months to one year, streamlining administration and reducing unnecessary cut-offs. 
• Mandates WIC electronic benefits transfer (EBT) implementation nationwide.  

What we like in the Senate Bill 

• Expands the At-Risk Afterschool Meal Program to all 50 states (currently only available in 13 states, including Pennsylvania)

What we like in the House Bill 

• Includes a provision that continues Philadelphia’s Universal Feeding Program by authorizing the use of a “socioeconomic survey” to count the number of school children entitled to free school meals, and extends this option to three other school districts.
• Improves the “community eligibility” method of providing universal meal service (introduced in the Senate Bill) by gradually adding Medicaid recipients to the list of children automatically enrolled in school meals through direct certification. 
• Provides competitive grants to promote and improve School Breakfast Programs.  
• Provides performance awards to states whose schools have the highest or most improved direct certification rates in the country (similar to SNAP state performance bonuses). 
• Lowers eligibility for the Summer Food Service Program from 50% to 40% in rural areas (where food insecurity is prevalent, but not necessarily concentrated). 

What advocates must continue to push for

• More money.  The Senate bill includes $4.5 billion in new spending over 10 years (or $450 million per year), less than half of the $10 billion over 10 years proposed in the President’s budget.  There is no funding attached to the House version of the bill yet.  Without adequate funding increases, some very necessary improvements to child nutrition programs were left out of the bill. 
• Swift action.  The Senate bill has been passed out of the Agriculture Committee and is awaiting action on the Senate floor. During the week of July 12, the House version of the bill (H.R. 5504) is scheduled for markup in the Education and Labor Committee. The bill authorizes $8 billion in new funding over the next 10 years, though the House Ways and Means Committee must find a way to pay for it. Both steps must happen before the bill is taken to the House floor. After both floor votes happen, the differences between the two bills must be worked out in conference committee. All of this needs to happen before the already extended bill deadline of Sept. 30, 2010. 
• Continue promoting Universal Feeding.  Although the Senate’s version of the bill does not currently allow a socioeconomic survey for universal feeding, there is an opportunity for Chairwoman Lincoln to amend the bill before it goes to the Senate floor for a vote.  Senators Casey and Specter are working to make this happen, but we need to keep the pressure on to ensure that Philadelphia’s Universal Feeding Program is protected for years to come. 

What Can You Do About it?

• Urge members of Congress to support H.R. 5504 and Chairman Miller’s efforts to provide substantial and positive investments in federal nutrition programs.
• Tell Sens. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter to insist on adequate funding for the bill AND that a survey method—like Philadelphia’s Universal Service Model—be put back into the Senate’s version of the bill.  
• Encourage Representative Allyson Schwartz, who sits on the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives, to work to find funding for a spending increase of $10 billion over 10 years—the minimum amount required to make any real progress towards the President’s goal of Ending Child Hunger by 2015.  
• Tell your house representative to support a strong, well-funded child nutrition bill in the House of Representatives. 
• Sign up for our eNewsletter to receive advocacy updates on Child Nutrition Reauthorization and how you can help.

Learn more

• Visit our Policy Resource Library to download the current House and Senate versions of the Child Nutrition legislation and read more about Philadelphia's Universal Feeding Model.