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School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act of 2025

3/29/2025, 2:23 AM

Summary of Bill S 993

Bill 119 s 993, also known as the "School Meal Debt Cancellation and Nutrition Assistance Expansion Act," is a proposed piece of legislation that aims to address the issue of school meal debt and expand nutrition assistance programs.

The bill would require the Secretary of Agriculture to cancel existing school meal debt, which is the amount of money that students owe for meals they have already consumed. This would help alleviate financial burdens on families and ensure that all students have access to nutritious meals at school.

Additionally, the bill seeks to expand the authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation, a government entity that supports agricultural producers, to be used in nutrition assistance programming. This would allow for more resources to be allocated towards programs that provide food assistance to low-income individuals and families. Overall, the School Meal Debt Cancellation and Nutrition Assistance Expansion Act aims to improve access to healthy meals for students and support those in need of food assistance.

Congressional Summary of S 993

School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act of 2025

This bill (1) requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to cancel school meal debts, and (2) expands USDA's authority to use Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

Specifically, USDA must cancel and eliminate all household school meal debts (as of the date of the bill's enactment) under the school breakfast and lunch programs. USDA must also pay the amount of the cancelled debt to each local educational authority using CCC funds.

The bill also reauthorizes the CSFP through FY2030 and allows USDA to use CCC funds for the program. As background, CSFP works to improve the health of low-income persons at least 60 years of age by supplementing their diets with nutritious USDA foods.

In addition, the bill specifies that USDA may use CCC funds for all aspects of TEFAP. In recent years, USDA has used CCC funds for specific TEFAP activities. As background, through TEFAP, USDA purchases a variety of food commodities. TEFAP provides those food commodities (and cash support for storage and distribution costs) to state agencies that distribute the food to local emergency feeding organizations (e.g., food banks).

Read the Full Bill

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Current Status of Bill S 993

Bill S 993 is currently in the status of Bill Introduced since March 12, 2025. Bill S 993 was introduced during Congress 119 and was introduced to the Senate on March 12, 2025.  Bill S 993's most recent activity was Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. as of March 12, 2025

Bipartisan Support of Bill S 993

Total Number of Sponsors
1
Democrat Sponsors
1
Republican Sponsors
0
Unaffiliated Sponsors
0
Total Number of Cosponsors
2
Democrat Cosponsors
2
Republican Cosponsors
0
Unaffiliated Cosponsors
0

Policy Area and Potential Impact of Bill S 993

Primary Policy Focus

Alternate Title(s) of Bill S 993

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.
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.

Comments

Leland Rollins profile image

Leland Rollins

1,075

1 year ago

I support this bill. It could help families struggling with school lunch debt.

Sponsors and Cosponsors of S 993

John Fetterman
John Fetterman
PennsylvaniaDemocrat
Peter Welch
Peter Welch
VermontDemocrat
Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal
ConnecticutDemocrat

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