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![handle is hein.crs/goveexi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional
~.Research Service
Child Nutrition in the Build Back Better Act
December 2, 2021
On November 19, 2021, the House passed the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376). Subtitle E, Child
Nutrition and Related Programs, of Title II of the bill would expand existing U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA)-administered child nutrition activities and newly authorize others. According to an
estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the child nutrition policies in the House-passed
bill would cost $10.09 billion over 10 years. Much of that spending would occur in FY2022-FY2027.
The child nutrition provisions in the House-passed bill are virtually identical to those in versions of the
bill released by the House Rules Committee on November 3, 2021, and October 28, 2021, and are
different from related proposals in the bill as reported by the House Budget Committee on September 27,
2021, and in the Biden Administration's American Families Plan released on April 28, 2021.
Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)
Section 24001 would expand eligibility and funding for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a
policy through which a school, group of schools, or school district offers free meals to all students
through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). Such entities
are currently eligible for CEP if at least 40% of their students are approved for free meals through direct
certification, a process through which the district or state agency uses data from other programs, including
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), to automatically enroll children in free meals
without household applications. Section 24001 would lower this eligibility threshold (called the identified
student percentage [ISP]) for CEP to 25%.
The section would also increase a multiplier used in CEP's reimbursement formula from 1.6 to 2.5, which
would increase funding among participating schools. The formula is such that participating schools
receive the free meal reimbursement rate (e.g., $3.66-$3.90 per lunch) for a percentage of meals equal to
the product of their ISP and the multiplier; the remainder of meals are reimbursed at a lower paid meal
rate (e.g., 35-50 cents per lunch). For example, under the current formula a school with a 40% ISP
receives the free rate for 64% (40% x 1.6) of meals, and the paid rate for the remaining 36% of meals.
Under Section 24001, the same school would receive the free rate for 100% (40% x 2.5) of meals.
Section 24001 would also establish a new option for states to operate CEP on a statewide basis. States that
opted in would get to use the 2.5 reimbursement multiplier (ISP would be calculated on a statewide basis)
ifthe state agreed to provide the remaining amount of funding necessary to ensure that every meal is
reimbursed at the free rate.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
IN11815
CRS INSIGHT
Prepared for Members and
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