Universal School Meals Program Act of 2026

This bill would make school breakfast and lunch free for all children enrolled in participating schools, removing income-based eligibility and reduced-price categories. It sets federal payments of $3.28 per free breakfast and $5.42 per free lunch, adjusted yearly for inflation, with extra payments for schools that make at least 25 percent of meals with locally sourced farm products. Schools could not collect unpaid meal debt, and the Secretary of Agriculture would reimburse schools for existing meal debt. The bill also makes summer meals and child care food program meals free to all children, bars schools from singling out children with meal debt, and replaces the free and reduced-price lunch measure of poverty used in other federal programs. Most changes take effect one year after enactment.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Bernard Sanders Independent sponsor
• 19 cosponsors