119-s993

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 993 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 993

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to cancel existing school meal 
 debt, to expand the authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation for 
 use in nutrition assistance programming, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 March 12, 2025

 Mr. Fetterman (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Welch) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
 on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to cancel existing school meal 
 debt, to expand the authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation for 
 use in nutrition assistance programming, 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.

 This Act may be cited as the ``School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act 
of 2025''.

SEC. 2. CANCELLATION OF SCHOOL MEAL DEBT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall cancel and 
eliminate all debts owed by households as of the date of enactment of 
this Act for school meals under--

    (1) the school lunch program established under the Richard 
 B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.), 
 including through community eligibility under 

section 11

    (a)

    (1)
        (F) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a

    (a)

    (1)
        (F) ); and

    (2) the school breakfast program under 

section 4 of the 
 Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).

    (b) Payment of Cancelled Debt.--The Secretary of Agriculture 
shall--

    (1) use the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to 
 pay the amount of debt cancelled under subsection

    (a) to each 
 local educational authority to which the debt is owed by the 
 applicable households; and

    (2) provide confirmation of the cancelled debt to each 
 applicable household.
            (c) Cancellation Authority.--

Section 7 of the Richard B. Russell 
National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1756) is amended by adding at the 
end the following:
 ``

    (e) School Meal Debt Cancellation Authority.--Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, the Secretary--
 ``

    (1) may cancel and eliminate all debts owed by households 
 for school meals under the school lunch program under this Act 
 and the school breakfast program under 

section 4 of the Child 
 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773); and
 ``

    (2) shall--
 ``
        (A) use the funds of the Commodity Credit 
 Corporation to pay the amount of debt cancelled under 
 paragraph

    (1) to each local educational authority to 
 which the debt is owed by the applicable households; 
 and
 ``
        (B) provide confirmation of the cancelled debt to 
 each applicable household.''.

SEC. 3. USE OF COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION FUNDS FOR OTHER NUTRITION 
 PROGRAMS.

    (a) Commodity Supplemental Food Program.--

Section 4

    (a) of the 
Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. 612c note; 
Public Law 93-86) is amended, in the first sentence--

    (1) by striking ``2023'' and inserting ``2030''; and

    (2) by inserting ``and funds of the Commodity Credit 
 Corporation'' after ``Treasury''.

    (b) Emergency Food Assistance Program.--

Section 204 of the 
Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7508) is amended--

    (1) in subsection

    (b) , by striking ``the funds'' and all 
 that follows through ``the States'' and inserting ``any funds 
 of the Commodity Credit Corporation used to carry out this 
 Act''; and

    (2) by adding at the end the following:
 ``
            (c) Commodity Credit Corporation Funds.--In addition to any other 
funds made available, of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, 
the Secretary may use such sums as are necessary to carry out this 
Act.''.
 <all>