119-hr2680

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2680 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2680

 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

 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.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 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.

 TITLE I--REPEAL OF REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES

SEC. 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) .

SEC. 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:

``

SEC. 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.

 TITLE II--EXPANSION OF FREE LUNCH ELIGIBILITY

SEC. 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''.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.''.

SEC. 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.''.
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