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.

II119th CONGRESS1st SessionS. 993IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESMarch 12, 2025Mr. 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 ForestryA BILLTo 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..