End Hunger Now

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, my two sisters are public school teachers. They taught me that school breakfast and lunches are every bit as important as a textbook or a laptop to that child's ability to learn.

During the pandemic, Congress wisely provided 30 million kids free meals at school, but last spring that provision expired.

Most schools had to go back to onerous paperwork and millions of kids stopped getting free meals. I urge USDA to make it easier for States to adopt universal school meals, including by lowering the threshold for community eligibility.

California, Maine, and soon Colorado already made universal school meals permanent. Three other States, including Massachusetts, have extended universal meals through this school year.

Massachusetts is working to make the program permanent with legislation recently introduced by State Rep. Andy Vargas and State Senator Sal DiDomenico.

Madam Speaker, we have a sacred responsibility to keep kids fed, and I am hopeful that one day soon we can pass a universal school meals bill here in the United States Congress. Together, we can end hunger now.

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