Nutrition Provisions in New House Build Back Better Legislation Could Substantially Reduce Children’s Food Hardship
End Notes
[1] Build Back Better Act, H.R. 5376, https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-117HR5376RH-RCP117-17.pdf.
[2] In addition to the provisions highlighted here that would increase access to food assistance, the legislation also provides funding to help schools offer healthier meals. It provides $30 million for training and technical assistance to support cooking meals from scratch and grants for school kitchen equipment needed to prepare healthier meals, and $250 million for other activities to promote healthier meals and eating habits.
[3] Brynne Keith-Jennings, Catlin Nchako, and Joseph Llobrera, “Number of Families Struggling to Afford Food Rose Steeply in Pandemic and Remains High, Especially Among Children and Households of Color,” CBPP, April 27, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/number-of-families-struggling-to-afford-food-rose-steeply-in-pandemic-and.
[4] Claire Zippel and Arloc Sherman, “Bolstering Family Income Is Essential to Helping Children Emerge Successfully From the Current Crisis,” CBPP, updated February 25, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/bolstering-family-income-is-essential-to-helping-children-emerge.
[5] Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report,” August 2020, https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/FRAC-Summer-Nutrition-Report-2020.pdf.
[6] Mark Nord and Kathleen Romig, “Hunger in the Summer: Seasonal food insecurity and the National School Lunch and Summer Food Service programs,” Journal of Children and Poverty, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2006, pp. 141-158, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10796120600879582; Jin Huang, Ellen Barnidge, and Youngmi Kim, “Children Receiving Free or Reduced-Price School Lunch Have Higher Food Insufficiency Rates in Summer,” Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 145, No. 9, September 2015, pp. 2161-68, https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.115.214486.
[7] Zoë Neuberger, “Recovery Legislation Could Help End Summer Childhood Hunger,” CBPP, June 30, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/recovery-legislation-could-help-end-summer-childhood-hunger.
[8] CBPP, “CBPP/FRAC P-EBT Documentation Project Shows How States Implemented a New Program to Provide Food Benefits to Up to 30 Million Low-Income School Children,” www.cbpp.org/pebt.
[9] The $65 monthly benefit would be adjusted the next year for inflation.
[10] USDA, “School Year 2020-2021 State Guidance on Coronavirus P-EBT,” October 21, 2021, https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/state-guidance-coronavirus-pandemic-ebt-pebt-sy20-21.
[11] Lauren Bauer et al., “An Update on the Effect of Pandemic EBT on Measures of Food Hardship,” Hamilton Project, September 29, 2021, https://www.brookings.edu/research/an-update-on-the-effect-of-pandemic-ebt-on-measures-of-food-hardship/?utm_campaign=Brookings%20Brief&utm_medium=email&utm_content=166599953&utm_source=hs_email. As explained in the technical appendix, households were considered to have very low food security among children if they reported that the children sometimes or often did not eat enough in the last seven days because the household could not afford food. Households that experienced food insufficiency reported that they were sometimes or often not able to get enough to eat in the previous seven days.
[12] Zoë Neuberger, “By Acting Now, Policymakers Can Connect More Low-Income Children With School Meals,” CBPP, September 2, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/blog/by-acting-now-policymakers-can-connect-more-low-income-children-with-school-meals.
[13] Arloc Sherman et al., “Recovery Proposals Adopt Proven Approaches to Reducing Poverty, Increasing Social Mobility,” CBPP, August 5, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/recovery-proposals-adopt-proven-approaches-to-reducing-poverty; Amelie A. Hecht, Keshia M. Pollack Porter, and Lindsey Turner, “Impact of The Community Eligibility Provision of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on Student Nutrition, Behavior, and Academic Outcomes: 2011–2019,” American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 110, No. 9, September 2020, https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305743.
[14] FRAC, “Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools: School Year 2020-2021,” June 2021, https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/CEP-Report-2021.pdf, and National Center for Education Statistics, “Table 105.20. Enrollment in elementary, secondary, and degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by level and control of institution, enrollment level, and attendance status and sex of student: Selected years, fall 1990 through fall 2029,” March 2021, https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d20/tables/dt20_105.20.asp.
[15] Zoë Neuberger, “American Families Plan Could Substantially Reduce Children’s Food Hardship,” CBPP, May 21, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/american-families-plan-could-substantially-reduce-childrens-food-hardship.
[16] Currently, school districts must directly certify children in households that receive SNAP. School districts can also conduct data matching to directly certify children receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cash assistance or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations benefits; children in foster care; children who are homeless, runaway, or migrant; or children in Head Start.
[17] USDA, “Demonstration Projects to Evaluate Direct Certification with Medicaid,” https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/direct-cert-medicaid-demo-RFA.pdf.
[18] Lara Hulsey et al., “Direct Certification with Medicaid for Free and Reduced-Price Meals (DCMF/RP) Demonstration, Year 1,” USDA, August 2019, https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/Evaluation-DCM_Year1.pdf.
[19] Build Back Better Act, H.R. 5376, https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-117HR5376RH-RCP117-17.pdf#page=14; Zoë Neuberger, “Nutrition Provisions in Economic Recovery Legislation Could Substantially Reduce Children’s Food Hardship,” CBPP, September 9, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/nutrition-provisions-in-economic-recovery-legislation-could-substantially.
[20] Neuberger, September 2021.
[21] Food and Nutrition Service, “National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program Demonstration Projects to Evaluate Direct Certification with Medicaid,” USDA, September 16, 2021, https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/direct-certification-medicaid-demonstration-project.