AFTERSchool Meals Act of 2009
The AFTERSchool Meals Act of 2009 would expand the Afterschool Meal Program, allowing children from all states to benefit from a nutritious meal after school.

• Send a letter asking your Senator to co-sponsor the AFTERSchool Meals Act of 2009 (S. 990).
• View the letter (pdf) sent by more than 55 national organizations to Senators Stabenow and Lugar supporting S. 990.

School Meal Enrollment Bills

• Hunger Free Schools Act of 2009
  
  INDIVIDUALS: Send a letter asking your Senator to co-sponsor the Hunger Free Schools Act.
  
  ORGANIZATIONS: Sign on to this letter in support of the Hunger Free Schools Act.
  
  S. 1343 would: 1) expand access to child nutrition programs by requiring school districts to utilize data from Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to directly certify more students that are eligible for free school meals; 2) improve state performance in enrolling eligible children in school lunch programs by setting a performance standard for directly certifying students for school lunch programs (reaching 95 percent of students required to be directly certified) and providing incentives to high performance states; and 3) allow schools or districts serving a high proportion of low-income children to serve free meals to all students and be reimbursed based on socioeconomic data rather than individual applications.

• Paperless Enrollment for School Meals Act of 2009
  S. 1226 - introduced by U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) Arlen Specter (D- PA), Michael Bennett (D-Colo.)
  H.R. 2803 - introduced by U.S. Representatives Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Robert Brady (D-PA)
  
  INDIVIDUALS: Send a letter asking your Member of Congress to co-sponsor the bill.
  
  The bills would allow schools or districts that agree to serve breakfast and lunch free to all students for 5 years to be reimbursed based on socioeconomic data rather than individual student applications. This would make it easier for schools serving high-poverty areas to provide free meals to all children by allowing data-based eligibility. The school or district gets administrative relief in exchange for covering any costs that exceed federal reimbursements.

• Enhancing Child Health with Automatic Enrollment for School Meals Act of 2009
  S. 1293 - introduced by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Robert Casey (D-PA)
  School meal programs use "direct certification" to enroll children (from households receiving SNAP/Food Stamps, TANF, and/or FDPIR) in free school meal programs. This bill would improve direct certification by requiring states to use data matching processes and automatically enroll eligible children without requiring any further action by their households. It also provides performance awards to states that effectively directly certify a high proportion of eligible children or that show significant improvement in their system, and requires states that directly certify less than 95 percent of children eligible for direct certification to submit a corrective plan of action. Data matching processes would improve accuracy of the school meal eligibility determination process and reduce administrative waste.

Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization
As part of Child Nutrition Reauthorization, Congress is reviewing all the federal child nutrition programs, including the School Breakfast and the National School Lunch Programs, the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provides a boost in SNAP/Food Stamp allotments, gives states extra money to administer SNAP/Food Stamps, and contains additional nutrition provisions.

• How the House voted.
• How the Senate voted.

Budget Fight FY 2010
Learn more about the budget process and how you can make food programs a priority.

Appropriations FY 2010
Support investments in our Food and Nutrition programs.

Action Needed: Contact your Members of Congress (and Senators on the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee) and urge them to support critical anti-hunger programs in the FY 2010 Agriculture Appropriations legislation.

Farm Bill
Learn more about the 2007 reauthorization of the Farm Bill, which includes the Food Stamp Program.

Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA)
ESEA is the federal government’s largest investment in K-12 education. This offers an excellent opportunity to boost student achievement and performance by making targeted improvements in certain federal child nutrition programs.

Contact Congress

• U.S. House of Representatives
• U.S. Senate