SENATE BILL ADDRESSES SUMMER HUNGER

The Senate Agriculture Committee’s revisions to the Child Nutrition Act seek to narrow current gaps that can leave low-income children without enough nutritious food, especially over the summer when free and reduced-price school meals end, there are no more free snacks in after-school programs. And SNAP benefits don’t increase to cover a family’s extra costs. The bill goes at the summer hunger problem in three different ways. First, it would allow some Summer Meal Program sites to serve meals kids can eat at home, though the program usually requires “congregate feeding.” Second, the bill tries to simplify administration for non-school sponsors that offer both after-school and summer programs. They now have to do all the paperwork for each separately and comply with two different sets of standards. Third, the bill creates a limited option to the summer feeding program. States could issue electronic benefits transfer cards, loaded with $30 per month, per child to some parents.

Source: Poverty & Policy, 2/1/16, Senate Child Nutrition Bill