An expired federal program that offered free meals to schoolchildren during the epidemic and loosened requirements for what they must be fed will be back on the table if new legislation is passed.
A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate Thursday aims to keep the initiative going by extending federal waivers that have allowed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help schools in several ways. The effort took a blow this month when Congress passed its $1.5 trillion spending bill without a decision on whether to continue funding waivers.
The waivers were crucial during the pandemic, but they would like to see the waivers extended past June 30, when they are currently set to expire, and continue through Sept. 30, 2023, according to the bill's co-sponsor, Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, said she was disappointed that the issue had become bipartisan, but was able to get Republican colleagues on board, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
That's about all of America, including red states, when 90 percent of the schools are using the flexibility right now and are desperate to maintain it, according to Stabenow.
Child nutritionists and anti-hunger advocates have criticized the lack of action as shortsighted at a time when ongoing supply chain disruptions and labor shortages have made feeding students a challenge, and ahead of the summer, when children still depend on federally funded meal programs but have limited access.
The waivers allowed the Department of Agriculture to reimburse schools at higher rates for the cost of meals, prevent schools from being penalized if they don't meet certain regulatory requirements, such as serving specific types of food that follow nutritional guidelines, and allow families to pick up meals.
The waivers allowed schools to provide free meals to students without their families having to meet income requirements set by the federal government.
The waivers were supported by Democrats and Republicans, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was reportedly opposing funding them, at a cost of $11 billion, in Congress' latest spending package.
The debate was about whether or not to keep paying for programs that have benefited since the early months of the pandemic. The waivers were framed as temporary by the Republican leadership, but they did not immediately comment Thursday if they are receptive to Stabenow's bill, which she is calling the Support Kids Not Red Tape Act.
Murkowski said in a statement that the issue of child hunger is too crucial not to take up.
Murkowski said that life is beginning to feel more normal after the widespread disruptions caused by Covid. Many Alaskans are still working to overcome the economic fallout from the epidemic, and many schools struggle with supply shortages and higher prices. Stabenow said that the bill is still being worked out, and that a version of it may end up in a future Covid funding plan.
While the bill's supporters are mostly Democrats, she plans to continue speaking with her Republican colleagues in an effort to find a path forward to keep the flexibilities and funding to feed our children. School nutrition advocates said they will reach out to Capitol Hill to get support for the bill.
Acute supply chain disruptions, persistent labor shortages and escalating costs make it impossible for these programs to return to normal operations next school year, said Beth Wallace, president of the School Nutrition Association, which represents more than 55,000 school nutrition professionals. This legislation is essential to sustaining school meal programs.