Check out FRAC’s Bills We’re Supporting page for additional priorities for families struggling against hunger from the 118th Congress. View Bills We’ve Supported for legislative priorities from the 117th Congress and earlier.
ACT NOW: Build Support for SNAP Farm Bill Priorities
Passage of the debt ceiling bill with expanded time limits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will lead to more hunger and poverty for older unemployed and underemployed adults.
Protecting and strengthening SNAP benefit adequacy and program eligibility must remain a top priority for the 2023 Farm Bill and anti-hunger advocates must re-double communications with Members of Congress as the bill proceeds.
We urge you to contact your members and ask them to cosponsor the SNAP priority bills listed below (click on the cosponsor link for each bill to see if your Member(s) are already on).
Urgent Action Needed:
H.R. 1510 — Improving Access to Nutrition Act, Reps. Lee (D-CA) and Adams (D-NC)
- Ends SNAP’s arbitrary three-month time limit to ensure that all eligible people have access to nutrition assistance and stay healthy.
- H.R. 1510 Factsheet and Cosponsors
- Use the FRAC Action Network to urge your Members of Congress to cosponsor H.R. 1510.
Additional Support Needed to Strengthen SNAP
H.R. 3037/S.1336 – Closing the Meal Gap Act, Rep. Adams (D-NC) / Sen. Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Boosts SNAP benefit allotments by utilizing the more adequate Low-Cost Food Plan
- Authorizes the standard medical deduction for seniors and disabled individuals
- Eliminates the cap on the Excess Shelter Deduction
- Eliminates Time-Limits
- Expands SNAP benefits for Puerto Rico
- Cosponsors House; Cosponsors Senate
S.1488/H.R. 3183 – The Eats Act of 2023, Sen. Gillibrand (D-NY) / Rep. Gomez (D-CA)
- Eliminates the barriers that low-income college students face when accessing SNAP
- Cosponsors Senate; Cosponsors House
H.R. 3479/S.1753 – The Restore Act, Reps. Cohen (D-TN) and Rutherford (R-FL) / Sens. Warnock (D-GA) and Booker (D-NJ)
- Repeals the lifetime federal ban on individuals with felony drug convictions from receiving SNAP
- H.R. 3479/S.1753 Factsheet
- Cosponsors House; Cosponsors Senate
H.R. 3519 – The Hot Foods Act, Rep. Meng (D-NY)
- Ends the prohibition on use of SNAP benefits to purchase hot prepared foods from food retailers
- Cosponsors House
The Lift the Bar Act, Rep. Jayapal (D-WA)
- Eliminates the five-year bar (waiting period) for legal permanent immigrants to access SNAP and other federal programs.
If you have questions about engaging your Members of Congress, please contact Vijay Das, vdas@frac.org, Timothy Klipp-Lockhart, tklipp-lockhart@frac.org or for questions on SNAP, contact Gina Plata-Nino, gplata-nino@frac.org.
FY 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act (‘Omnibus’) Legislative Summary
On December 23, Congress passed the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill to fund the federal government through fiscal year 2023. The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill, one of 12 subcommittee bills contained in the omnibus spending package, provides $25.5 billion — an increase of $737 million, 3 percent above fiscal year (FY) 2022 — to fund U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs. The committee highlights can be found here and a division-by-division summary of the bill is here.
It is important to note that one offset (funding mechanism) for certain provisions in the legislation was a premature cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Emergency Allotments (EAs). This cut will hasten the hunger cliff for millions of people with low incomes as soon as March 2023 (as opposed to the end of the duration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency declaration). For more on the SNAP EAs cuts, go to Food Research & Action Center’s statement.
Learn more in FRAC’s full FY 2023 Omnibus Legislative Summary.
Congress Passes Bipartisan, Bicameral Keep Kids Fed Act
On Friday, June 24, 2022, Congress passed the Keep Kids Fed Act (S. 2089), a bipartisan and bicameral bill to help mitigate the impact of the loss of the child nutrition waivers due to expire next Thursday, June 30, 2022. This bill is an important first step that would increase reimbursements to schools and child care centers, support access to summer meals, and streamline access to healthy meals for children in family child care. Learn more in this blog post.
Budget Reconciliation 101
Curious about Budget Reconciliation? Unsure about the process or special rules to look out for? Explore this three-page report that explains what you need to know.
Sign Up for the FRAC Action Network!
Urge your Representatives to support and strengthen the Federal Nutrition Programs. Learn about the latest opportunities for action by signing up for the FRAC Action Network. Hungry people can’t wait.
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Recent Publications & Data
See More Resources- Report
During the 2022–2023 school year, there was a significant increase in the number of schools and districts participating in community eligibility. Learn more in FRAC’s latest report, Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2022–2023.
Read the report - Advocacy Tool
Use this leave behind in your advocacy efforts to inform your Members of Congress about the critical importance of Healthy School Meals for All, and urge them to support key legislation.
Download the leave behind - Advocacy Tool
Use this leave behind to inform your Members of Congress about budget and appropriations priorities for the 2024 Fiscal Year.
Download the leave behind - Advocacy Tool
Use this leave behind to inform your Members of Congress about the critical importance of SNAP, TEFAP, and other anti-hunger programs.
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News
FRAC Chat
Changes are happening in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility and operations in summer 2023, both because SNAP temporary policies during the pandemic are “unwinding” and because the recently enacted debt ceiling law amends the population groups subject to SNAP time limit rules. Communicating with SNAP participants and applicants will be even more important in the weeks and months ahead to ensure that eligible people do not miss out on benefits.
Last month marked the official launch of the National Healthy School Meals for All Coalition, a diverse group of 18 national anti-hunger, education, and child advocacy organizations dedicated to building support for and passing permanent free Healthy School Meals for All legislation at the federal level. The Food Research & Action Center is proud to convene this coalition of dynamic organizations and formalize the work that has been done through partnerships for years to advance school meals.
This week, FRAC released its annual report, Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2022–2023, detailing participation in the Community Eligibility Provision among schools and districts in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The 2022–2023 school year marked the end of the pandemic-related child nutrition waivers that allowed schools across the country to offer meals to all their students at no charge since spring 2020. By providing healthy free school meals for all, these waivers ensured that all children, no matter their household income, could reap the academic and health benefits of school breakfast. Despite a strong call for these waivers to be extended through the 2022–2023 school year, many schools were forced to return to the tiered system of certifying children for free, reduced-price, or paid meals.
As schools transitioned back to normal operations for the 2022–2023 school year, community eligibility has facilitated this transition by allowing schools in high-need areas to continue providing free meals to all students without needing to collect applications. As a result, we have seen significant growth in community eligibility participation, which shows the commitment schools across the country have shown to finding ways to continue serving meals to all their students free of charge.