Lawmakers have dropped an extension of waivers for free universal school lunches from the new bipartisan $1.5 trillion spending package working its way through Congress, meaning millions of students could soon lose the food subsidies that they have been offered since the start of the pandemic.
The waivers will expire June 30, just as students leave for summer break. An additional 10 million students have been given access to free meals through school systems, regardless of income, under the expansion. That’s in addition to the roughly 20 million lower-income students who had already qualified for free meals.
The House passed the spending bill late Wednesday night. It will now move to the Senate, where it needs to be passed and signed into law by President Biden to beat a Friday night government funding deadline.
Democrats and school interest groups have blamed Republicans, in particular Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for the proposed cut in school lunch spending, amid a push by GOP leaders to wind down trillions of dollars in pandemic-related federal spending and programs put in place since the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020.
Extending the waiver for free meals would have cost an estimated $11 billion for the current fiscal year. Congress could move to fund the measure separately in a new bill, but any Democratic-led measure would almost certainly fail due to the need to muster at least some GOP support in the Senate.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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