Republican budget proposal would do away with universal free school lunches

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Business Insider

Mar 24, 2024, 4:47 PM EDT


There's no such thing as a free lunch. That's the future that some Republicans appear to want at least. The Republican Study Committee, a congressional caucus that contains around three-fourths of Republicans in the House of Representatives, released its 2025 fiscal year budget report this week. The budget is unlikely to pass any time soon but offers a glimpse of Republican priorities should they win in November.

The budget aims to reform school lunch subsidies by eliminating the "community eligibility provision" from the federal School Lunch Program.

The community eligibility provision funds school lunches for all children enrolled in the school regardless of their individual needs. The proposed RSC Budget would eliminate that provision to ensure school lunch provisions go to only "truly needy households," the report says.

There are only nine states that provide free school lunch to all students regardless of their status, according to the NYC Food Policy Center at Hunter College. States with universal free lunch include California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Main, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Vermont. Similar bills have also been considered by lawmakers in more than 20 states and Washington, DC.

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/house-republican-budget-universal-free-school-lunch-2024-3

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Link to House GOP FY'25 BUDGET PROPOSAL (PDF) - https://hern.house.gov/uploadedfiles/final_budget_including_letter_web_version.pdf