S. 993

93 S993 IS: School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act of 2025
 U.S. Senate
 2025-03-12
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 II  119th CONGRESS  1st Session  S. 993  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   March 12, 2025   Mr. Fetterman  (for himself,  Mr. Blumenthal , and  Mr. Welch ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the  Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry    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.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act of 2025  .
2.
Cancellation of school meal debt
(a)
In general
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall cancel and eliminate all debts owed by households as of the date of enactment of this Act for school meals under—
(1)
the school lunch program established under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq. ), including through community eligibility under section 11(a)(1)(F) of that Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F) ); and
(2)
the school breakfast program under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1773 ).
(b)
Payment of cancelled debt
The Secretary of Agriculture shall—
(1)
use the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to pay the amount of debt cancelled under subsection (a) to each local educational authority to which the debt is owed by the applicable households; and
(2)
provide confirmation of the cancelled debt to each applicable household.
(c)
Cancellation authority
Section 7 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1756 ) is amended by adding at the end the following:
(e)
School meal debt cancellation authority
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary—
(1)
may cancel and eliminate all debts owed by households for school meals under the school lunch program under this Act and the school breakfast program under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1773 ); and
(2)
shall—
(A)
use the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to pay the amount of debt cancelled under paragraph (1) to each local educational authority to which the debt is owed by the applicable households; and
(B)
provide confirmation of the cancelled debt to each applicable household.
 .
3.
Use of Commodity Credit Corporation funds for other nutrition programs
(a)
Commodity supplemental food program
Section 4(a) of the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 ( 7 U.S.C. 612c  note;  Public Law 93–86 ) is amended, in the first sentence—
(1)
by striking  2023  and inserting  2030 ; and
(2)
by inserting  and funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation  after  Treasury .
(b)
Emergency food assistance program
Section 204 of the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 ( 7 U.S.C. 7508 ) is amended—
(1)
in subsection (b), by striking  the funds  and all that follows through  the States  and inserting  any funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation used to carry out this Act ; and
(2)
by adding at the end the following:
(c)
Commodity Credit Corporation funds
In addition to any other funds made available, of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary may use such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act.
 .