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Click Play — Video: (News12) Gottheimer Pushes for School Meals
To ensure that no student goes through their school day without the meals they need to succeed, Congressman Gottheimer recently called on House and Senate leadership to extend a critical, federally-provided school breakfast and lunch program for all students — responsible for more than 200 million meals a year in New Jersey alone.
Under the current red-tape-laced bureaucratic system, there are many kids on the cusp of the federal threshold who would still go hungry in school. In fact, if a school district has fewer than five percent of students below the federal threshold, they are not even required to participate in school provided lunch programs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) authority to grant waivers to provide school breakfast and lunch for all nationwide. Additionally, Congress extended school meals for all in the Keep Kids Fed Act through Summer 2022. Now, with the expiration of the Keep Kids Fed Act as the 2022-2023 school year begins, millions of children have now lost access to school provided meals.
Nationwide, the extension of this critical program would help feed an estimated 10 million students in need and help schools save up to $100,000 a year by removing the administrative costs of analyzing and processing these calculations.
With these bipartisan actions, we can ensure that no student goes through their school day without the meals they need to succeed.
Read more here.
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