Congress extends school lunch program, but maybe too late

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Congress voted Friday to extend a Pandemic Era School Meal Waivers Program that was set to expire at the end of the month. The $3 billion bill provides some relief but also reduces the number of children able to access school meals. Advocates say the delay in passing the extension has already jeopardized access to summer meals for nearly 7 million children. Yesterday, I spoke to Wilfred Chan, Contributor at The Guardian, who has been following this story closely.

  Democratic leaders, as you know, in rushing to get this legislation to President Biden's desk they were trying to avoid a hunger clip for millions of children. Why were Senate Republicans holding it up? Why were they opposed to school meals for needy children?

• Wilfred Chan, Contributor, The Guardian:

  What advocates have told me is that there's not a lot of political will to extend any program that would imply that the pandemic is still going on, that obviously the pandemic is not over, a lot of the supply chain issues that are affecting these schools are still present. So, you know, it's causing a lot of problems.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So how will this new bill change the program because the pandemic waivers allowed all children to get free school meals regardless of income. And as I understand it, this new legislation reduces the number of kids who have access now?

• Wilfred Chan:

  That's right. The pandemic waivers actually made it so that all kids regardless of how much they could pay would get these free meals from schools, no questions asked, and that schools could get reimbursed for every meal that they handed out. Under the new bill, basically, schools are going to have to go back to the old system where kids and their families would have to fill out somewhat invasive applications, with their personal financial information to qualify for these meals, schools are actually going to be reimbursed at lower rates as well compared to during the pandemic for giving out these free meals.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And one of the problems based on my reporting with Congress waiting until the last minute here is that you have lots of schools that have already set up their summer meal programs under the pre-pandemic rules. And it's really difficult for these schools now to change quickly because, one, they may not have the food available or the staff available to prepare it and run the distribution site. So what have you picked up on your reporting about that?

• Wilfred Chan:

  Yeah, well, you know, what happens is that a lot of these schools have to place their orders for their summer meals as early as January. And the, you know, vendors have sense that Congress wasn't going to renew the Summer Meals Program, which means that a lot of these vendors have actually shifted their priorities back to the commercial market, which in many ways is more lucrative for them. So even with this extension, there's a lot of doubt whether the schools and these other community organizations can get the food that they need to keep this program going at the rate that it was for the last few years.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And this extension, if it is signed by June 30, that will invariably end at some point, and then you have a cliff that will inevitably come for schools and families unless Congress passes a more permanent solution. So what might that look like?

• Wilfred Chan:

  What advocates have been calling for and some of the cafeteria workers I've spoken to, one, is universal free school meals, and that's going back to a, you know, permanent version of the pandemic era waivers where schools get reimbursed for every free meal that they give out to kids. And that way, there's no doubt that, you know, kids who are hungry can get the food that they need.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Wilfred Chan is a Contributor at The Guardian. Wilfred, thanks so much for sharing your reporting with us.

• Wilfred Chan:

  Thanks.