Dear John,

Senator Tammy Baldwin has joined a bipartisan group of Senators to introduce the Support Kids Not Red Tape Act to extend the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) school meal flexibilities from June 30, 2022 to September 30, 2023. These flexibilities have been crucial to feeding children throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. With 90% of our schools still facing many challenges as they return to normal operations, these flexibilities give our schools and summer meal programs much-needed support to deal with ongoing food service issues and keep kids fed. The bill will also help schools transition back to normal meal operations under the National School Lunch Program. USDA requested this authority be extended.

“We cannot allow millions of children to lose access to school meals, and we must extend school meal flexibilities to make sure no child goes hungry,” said Senator Baldwin. “I have heard directly from parents, teachers and education leaders about the challenges schools still face trying to move past the impacts of this pandemic, and this bipartisan legislation recognizes some of those challenges. Let’s get the job done on this legislation to prevent disruptions to school nutrition programs and make sure kids have access to healthy meals. We can’t let them down, we should work together to lift them up by making sure no child has to face hunger.”

Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Jill Underly agrees, saying: “Throughout the pandemic, our schools and their nutrition teams have worked to ensure Wisconsin’s children have access to the healthy meals they need. As any parent or teacher can tell you, kids are at their best when they have nutritious meals. This important work has been possible thanks to flexibilities granted through Congress and the USDA, and those flexibilities need to continue so our schools can, in turn, continue to meet our children’s needs for nutritious meals.
 
We know Wisconsin families are counting on their schools to provide access to free meals for their children throughout the school year and the summer so all kids can continue to be their best selves; I want to commend Senator Baldwin for her co-sponsorship of the bipartisan Support Kids Not Red Tape Act, and to thank the Wisconsin delegation for their support of the legislation.”

Anti-hunger and nutrition advocates also reiterated the importance of these flexibilities and applauded the bipartisan bill to keep critical flexibilities for school nutrition programs to feed children.

“School meal programs, a crucial source of nutritional support for millions of families nationwide, face tremendous immediate and long-term challenges in the absence of these child nutrition waivers,” said Beth Wallace, president of the School Nutrition Association. “Acute supply chain disruptions, persistent labor shortages and escalating costs make it impossible for these programs to return to normal operations next school year. This legislation is absolutely critical to sustaining school meal programs, ensuring children have access to nutritious school meals and preventing substantial financial losses for schools nationwide.”

“The sooner the USDA is authorized to extend child nutrition waivers, the sooner schools and community organizations can plan meal programs for summer and next school year,” said Lisa Davis, senior vice president of Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign. “Schools and community meal providers continue to face extreme pandemic-related challenges like supply chain disruptions, rising food prices and staffing shortages. Without waivers, they will have a difficult time responding to these challenges in real-time, impacting their ability to safely and effectively reach kids with the nutrition they need and stunting their ability to transition to normal operations as those challenges subside.”

“Nearly 12 million children struggle to know where their next meal will come from, disrupting their ability to reach their full potential. Fortunately, child nutrition waivers have helped provide year-round access to much-needed nutrition. If the waivers aren’t extended, millions of children will lose that access, with Black, Latino, and Native American children, and children in rural areas, being hit hardest,” said Vince Hall, chief government relations officer, Feeding America. “Because of the delay in extending the waivers, some site sponsors will have to close summer and after-school meal sites, translating to taking away meals that families are relying on to keep their kids nourished. Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, applauds the introduction of this bill to extend child nutrition waivers, continuing this critical lifeline for children. We urge Congress to act immediately to ensure our children don’t face hunger this summer and beyond.”

Read why extending the child nutrition waiver authority has the support of:

Nearly 2,000 anti-hunger, nutrition, education, children’s, school, preschool, and out of school providers, faith groups and industry groups, among others, from all 50 states and the District of Columbia

23 groups, including the Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger, School Nutrition Association, School Superintendents Association, National Education Association, National PTA, and American Commodity Distribution Alliance

And see the full list of Senator Baldwin's colleagues who support the bipartisan Support Kids Not Red Tape Act here.