Language from Davis’ bill to extend child nutrition waivers included in stopgap spending bill

Legislation to fund the government through Dec. 11 recently received approval in both houses of Congress with a final vote scheduled for Wednesday that would send the stopgap spending bill to President Trump to sign before the new budget year starts on Oct. 1.

The bill includes language offered by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) in the bipartisan Operation Feed Our Kids Act, H.R. 8325, which he sponsored on Sept. 21 with lead cosponsor U.S. Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) to ensure the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has funding and authority to continue to provide child nutrition waivers through 2021.

“I’d like to thank congressional leaders for their willingness to compromise and include language from our bipartisan Operation Feed Our Kids Act in the must-pass government funding legislation,” said Rep. Davis. “With this language, we now give our schools, families, and school nutrition professionals certainty throughout the upcoming school year to ensure kids can continue to get the meals they’re used to during a normal school year.”

Rep. Davis’ bill included a longer time frame for the USDA to provide waivers that give schools flexibility on several components of school meals programs, including allowing schools to utilize the summer meals programs throughout the school year, and provided more explicit direction to USDA to continue the program, according to a bill summary provided by the congressman’s office. 

The bill has been endorsed by the School Nutrition Association, Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, and the Urban School Food Alliance.

Cosponsors of H.R. 8325 also included U.S. Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Paul Cook (R-CA).