Bill · S. 993· Senate(119-S-993)
School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act of 2025
- Introduced
- 3/12/2025
- Last activity
- 3/12/2025 — Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
- Sponsored by
- John Fetterman
- Cosponsors
- - 2 - 0
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
The School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act of 2025 requires the Secretary of Agriculture to cancel existing school meal debt. This debt cancellation applies to school lunch and breakfast programs. The Secretary must use Commodity Credit Corporation funds to pay the cancelled debt back to local educational authorities. Additionally, the bill expands the authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation for use in nutrition assistance programming. This includes adjustments to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program.
Yes· 3 of 6
Would households on low incomes be better off under this?+8
Directly eliminates existing school meal debt for many families.
Does this put more money into public schools?+7
The bill reimburses local educational authorities for canceled meal debts using CCC funds.
Would children be better off under this?+6
Ensures children have access to nutritious meals without the burden of debt.
The opposite
No question was scored the opposite.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
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Cancellation of School Meal Debt: The Secretary of Agriculture is required to cancel and eliminate all debts owed by households for school meals and breakfast programs as of the date of enactment (Section 2(a)). This provides relief to households with outstanding debt under the school lunch and breakfast programs.
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Debt Repayment to Schools: The Secretary must use Commodity Credit Corporation funds to pay the amount of cancelled debt to each local educational authority to which the debt is owed (Section 2(b)(1)). This ensures that local educational authorities are reimbursed for the cancelled debts.
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Debt Confirmation: The Secretary is required to provide confirmation of the cancelled debt to each applicable household (Section 2(b)(2)).
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Expanded Nutrition Funding Authority: The bill amends existing laws to allow the use of Commodity Credit Corporation funds for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (Section 3).
Potential Negative Impacts for People
- No specific negative impacts are mentioned in the provided text.
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Good For Low Income Households+8Good For Children+6Good For Students+5
- Education And Technology
- Increases Public School Funding+7
- Social Issues And Justice
- Improves Poverty Reduction+6
- Governance And Ideology
- Increases Federal Power+5
- 3/12/2025
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
- 2 Cosponsors added.
- Introduced in Senate
Richard BlumenthalDemocrat · Connecticut
Peter WelchDemocrat · Vermont