Congress Passes Bipartisan, Bicameral Keep Kids Fed Act

Home > Blog Posts > Congress Passes Bipartisan, Bicameral Keep Kids Fed Act

Congress Passes Bipartisan, Bicameral Keep Kids Fed Act

By Allyson Pérez, Child Nutrition Policy Analyst and Crystal FitzSimons, Director of School and Out-of-School Time Programs

June 24, 2022

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.

The bill was introduced in the House by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and in the Senate by Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR). Here are the provisions of the Keep Kids Fed Act:

Extends USDA’s authority to issue summer nutrition waivers through September 30, 2022; meal pattern waivers through June 30, 2022, and non-cost nationwide waivers through school year 2022–2023.
Increases the school breakfast reimbursement by 15 cents and the school lunch reimbursement by 40 cents.
Extends the area eligibility waiver allowing family child care homes to receive the higher Tier 1 reimbursements through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Streamlines access to healthy meals for children in family child care homes by extending the area eligibility test waiver. This year, one of the most pressing problems is that schools do not have the income data needed to establish area eligibility. In addition, this test is not an effective mechanism; it misses many providers serving children from low income households, especially in rural and suburban areas.
Increases CACFP reimbursements by 10 cents for each meal and snack for child care providers and afterschool programs. This will help to stem participation declines, support good nutrition, and provide relief for struggling child care to cope with supply chain and cost issues. These enhanced reimbursements will make it more affordable to provide the healthy foods required by CACFP. These healthy CACFP meals and snacks for young children in child care are essential to supporting good health and development.

These provisions are helpful for the summer, for supporting school nutrition operations, and supporting access to child care. However, families will face a hunger cliff when they lose healthy school meals for all when the school year starts. Congress must act to extend the critical waiver that allows schools to offer meals to all children at no charge through this upcoming school year, and to make additional long-term investments in the child nutrition programs, including expanding community eligibility, and permanently expanding Summer EBT nationwide in the upcoming budget reconciliation that is being currently discussed.

Learn From Our Research On Ending Hunger In America

FRAC Plan of Action to End Hunger in America

Recent Articles

Nov 08, 2024

Kelsey Boone, Senior Child Nutrition Policy Analyst

All States Must Adopt Summer EBT to Address Childhood Summer Hunger

Summer 2024 marked the inaugural year of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program (Summer EBT). The program, also known as SUN Bucks, provides families with $120 in grocery benefits for each school-age child who is eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. A total of 37 states, two Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs), and all five U.S. territories participated in the first year of implementation.

Oct 23, 2024

Kelsey Boone, Senior Child Nutrition Policy Analyst

Afterschool Suppers and Snacks Critical to Combating Childhood Hunger

This week, the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) released its annual  Afterschool Suppers: A Snapshot of Participation — October 2023 report, which looks at participation in afterschool suppers and afterschool snacks on the state and national levels. The report comes ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Afterschool Alliance’s annual Lights On Afterschool celebration on October 24, which will shine a light on the important role afterschool programs play in supporting families and communities.

Oct 16, 2024

Salaam Bhatti, SNAP Director

World Food Day: We Can Do Better

Every year on October 16, World Food Day, founded in 1979 by the United Nations, aims to raise awareness of hunger and malnutrition, and create an opportunity to promote healthy diets for all. Opportunities to combat hunger and improve nutrition cannot be for a short-term fix. Sustainable solutions are needed.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people living in America learned very quickly that our own food supply chain is far from sustainable and is in fact quite frail, and that our safety net is tattered. Thankfully, we had the resources to create additional supports, such as Emergency Allotments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), expanded and inclusive child tax credits, and healthy free school meals for all students, for a true safety net.

All Blogs

FRAC Chat