Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) introduced legislation that would direct the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to pay off all outstanding student meal debt. The legislation also would grant the USDA new authority to purchase food for food banks. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Peter Welch (D-VT) joined Senator Fetterman to introduce the legislation.
“‘School lunch debt’ is a term so absurd that is shouldn’t even exist. I’m proud to lead the fight to cancel our nation’s school meal debt – it’s long past time to stop humiliating kids and penalizing hunger,” said Senator Fetterman. “We must protect students’ access to healthy foods and stand with working families. I hope to see this critical legislation signed into law this Congress.”
“Our measure will take necessary and long overdue action to eliminate student lunch debt once and for all—investing in the long-term health, well-being, and success of our nation’s children and families,” said Senator Blumenthal. “It is unacceptable that millions of children across the country have to choose between going hungry or going into debt so they can eat lunch at school. It is a humiliating practice that penalizes our most vulnerable children for living in poverty. Every student in America must have access to a nutritious meal at school without fear of the financial burden.”
“Our students should be focused on learning—not worrying about whether they can afford school lunch. Ensuring our children don’t go hungry at school shouldn’t be a partisan issue. We have an obligation to ensure that all students—in red states and blue states—are supported and respected,” said Senator Welch. “I’m proud to partner with my friend and colleague Senator Fetterman on this commonsense bill and urge those across the aisle to join us in standing up for the welfare of children in Vermont and across America.”
During the height of COVID-19 in 2020, federal lawmakers made the unprecedented move of providing free lunch for every public-school student in America. Pennsylvania began offering free school breakfast to all students starting in the 2023-2024 school year. This federal universal program expired last fall, but many states have been rolling out their own universal free school meals programs and seen significant results. Even schools that don’t offer free meals usually won’t turn away hungry students. Instead, they will feed them and collect payment later, leading to “school lunch debt.”
There are over 20 million children in the U.S. who can’t afford their school meals, and the national public school meal debt is a whopping $176 million each year. In Pennsylvania alone, there are nearly half a million food insecure children who collectively owe nearly $234 million in total debt. This bill will ease the financial burden on working families by directing the USDA to pay for all debts owed to schools for lunch or breakfast programs.
As a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry, fighting food insecurity is one of Senator Fetterman’s main priorities. The School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act is one step in a larger effort to do so. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research last year, Senator Fetterman led a hearing titled Keeping Kids Learning in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program to highlight the need to better support schools and students.
In June 2023, Senator Fetterman was one of just four Democrats to vote against the debt limit bill because of its harmful cuts to SNAP and has promised to oppose any legislation that worsens food insecurity. Last Congress, he also introduced legislation to combat this issue, including the Universal School Meals Program Act of 2023to provide free breakfast, lunch, and dinner to every student, and the Food Secure Strikers Act of 2023 to allow striking workers to qualify for SNAP benefits. He additionally supports expanding community eligibility provisions to allow schools in low-income areas to serve free meals to all their students.
Senator Fetterman introduced the School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act alongside Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Peter Welch (D-VT) in the 118th Congress.
Read the full text of the legislation here.
