McConnell Cosponsors Bipartisan Bill to Help Reduce Child Hunger

Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell joined Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in introducing The Hunger Free Summer for Kids Act. The bipartisan legislation would inject additional flexibility and choice into existing federal child nutrition programs, which would allow states to better ensure that children in rural areas are not treated unfairly when school is out of session. Currently, children must travel to a central location and eat their meals together. This works well in some communities. However, in rural areas, it can be difficult for children to reach a site, if a site even exists.

The Hunger Free Summer for Kids Act would authorize the Department of Agriculture to establish two alternative options for program delivery for summer meals:

* Authorize summer meal providers to deliver to eligible children in rural and hard to reach communities, allowing for meal distribution flexibility if a delivery site is unexpectedly closed due to inclement weather or other conditions.
* Provide eligible households with an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card each month over summer break to purchase eligible food items from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) approved retailers. In USDA pilot programs, summer EBT was shown to reduce child hunger by over 30 percent.
"Children in rural areas often face significant hurdles when trying to access school meals during the summer months, including irregular public transportation and long commutes to school. This problem has only become more acute during the COVID-19 pandemic. Washington's one-size-fits-all approach to this issue has proved insufficient for rural students who struggle with obstacles that those in urban areas might not," said Senator McConnell. "The Hunger Free Summer for Kids Act would give states the flexibility to provide summer meal delivery programs to children in hard-to-reach areas. This bill will bring effective, flexible reforms to existing school meal programs and deliver greater fairness to Kentucky's most vulnerable children."

"When I first took office as Agriculture Commissioner, I traveled the state and spoke with food banks and summer meal site operators about the bureaucratic rules and regulations that complicate serving meals to hungry kids during the summer months," said Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles. "This bill will allow more flexibility for summer feeding programs to meet kids where they are. I applaud Leader McConnell for pushing this effort forward, for getting bureaucratic rules out of the way, and making sure that fewer Kentucky schoolchildren go hungry."

"Studies, including Map the Meal Gap, show Kentuckians experience hunger above national averages with Food Insecurity for children in many rural communities exceeding 30 percent," said Michael Halligan, CEO for God's Pantry Food Bank. "We are grateful for Senator McConnell's leadership and support of innovative programs to alleviate hunger. The Hunger-Free Summer for Kids Act will provide much-needed flexibility throughout the Central and Eastern Kentucky communities we serve ensuring all children have equal access to nutritious summer meals."

"The congregate feeding rule is a significant roadblock to the expansion of services Feeding America, Kentucky's Heartland provides to families in rural communities," said Jamie Sizemore, Executive Director of Feeding America, Kentucky's Heartland in Hardin County. "Permanent flexibility for the congregate feeding rule could allow our food bank to participate in federal nutrition programs and reach more kids in our 42 county service area. We appreciate this legislation as a positive step forward towards our goal of ensuring no kid goes hungry in the Commonwealth."

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