The dispute has taken place behind the scenes in recent weeks as lawmakers try to reach a deal to avoid a federal shutdown, which is set to happen after midnight Friday unless Congress acts. The tense process has sparked bitter debates about programs enacted earlier in the pandemic, and how much, if anything, more should be funded.
The Biden administration had urged lawmakers to extend an initiative first enacted in 2020, which gave the Department of Agriculture the authority to issue child nutrition waivers across the country. These waivers have allowed school nutrition programs, local government agencies and nonprofit organizations to continue feeding children despite numerous challenges, including school closures that forced students to learn remotely.
But the request from the Biden administration, backed by congressional Democrats, met resistance on Capitol Hill, according to four people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions. Republican opponents included Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the people said.
One of the people, an aide to the Senate Republican leadership, explained that the program had been intended as a temporary solution, and extending it would have cost more than $11 billion at a time when the party is worried about mounting deficits. The aide stressed that schools are reopening anyway and criticized the Biden administration for not extending school lunch programs as part of the roughly $1.9 trillion stimulus Democrats backed last year.
The aide also said the administration did not include a request to extend these waivers when it asked Congress to approve more than $20 billion in new emergency coronavirus funding last week. But USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack disputed this in an interview with The Washington Post, saying that he had worked on the phones for the program all weekend.
“This weekend, I made a request to speak with Leader McConnell and Leader McCarthy. Now, I realize you have a lot on your plate. But the failure of Republicans to respond to this means that children are going to have less on their plates,” Vilsack said. “And there is no reason for this. There is no reason for this.”
Several people warned that talks on a bipartisan funding deal remain unresolved, meaning the discussion could still change. Lawmakers aim to finish work on the bill as soon as Tuesday so the House and Senate can vote on the broader spending package imminently.
However, without an extension of waivers, schools are expected to see a dramatic reduction in reimbursements for school meals in the coming school year. USDA estimates more than 40 percent decrease in funding for school lunches for an average school district. The average reimbursement a school receives for a meal served will drop from $4.56 to an estimated $2.91. And that will happen as long as schools continue to face higher costs for food, labor and supplies.
Schools could also lose critical flexibility in how they operate, which has allowed them to adapt traditional program rules to accommodate the pandemic and labor shortages, according to proponents of these programs. This includes flexibilities to offer classroom meals or grab-and-go meals for children who must miss school during quarantines.
Schools could lose the ability to substitute food to meet requirements when they can’t get what they ordered due to unexpected supply chain disruptions, advocates say. Finally, without waivers, schools could face financial penalties if they don’t meet federal requirements as a result of supply chain issues through no fault of their own. For example, if they can’t serve a variety of vegetables or source whole-grain-rich products that meet federal standards, states will have to penalize districts.
“Ninety percent of the schools they are using the exemptions and only 75 percent of them are breaking even,” said Stacy Dean, USDA deputy assistant secretary. “If your income is too low for your costs, you have to go elsewhere for your income or you have to cut costs, which could mean lower-quality food, layoffs, or cuts to programs like after-school snacks and breakfasts, which it has a particular impact on low-income students.”
School nutrition advocates are on the warpath. Although Covid cases are down and unemployment in this country continues to decline, the loss of these waivers will be a cataclysm for schools and students in need in a situation that remains far from normal, said Kelly Orton, director of the District. Salt Lake City School. . She points out the shortcomings that she is seeing right now.
“We have had problems getting milk. The manufacturers of the cartons couldn’t make them for us, and sporadically we haven’t had drivers to deliver the milk,” he said. “We haven’t had milk since last Tuesday. It hasn’t been delivered all week and is a vital component that we are supposed to provide. This is the new normal.”
Additionally, school districts across the country are struggling to find enough workers, Orton said, but increased funding during the pandemic has allowed districts to pay higher wages to compete in a tight job market.
“At Utah retail chains, the new starting salary is $15. We had been paying $13.50 in our plan and in February we just approved $15 in order to be competitive. Current funding has allowed us to do that. The fear is that when these exemptions are gone and the money is gone, there will be no way to fund these higher wages,” he said.
Many of the pandemic-era safety net programs have a gradual return to normal, according to Dean. By removing these waivers on June 30, schools will be underfunded for summer programs and for the upcoming school year. Dean said other safety net programs that got a boost during the pandemic, like Medicaid health insurance and SNAP (the supplemental nutrition program formerly called food stamps), have been given more time to get back to a tighter financing.
“We are concerned that a sharp turn on June 30 is going to undermine a seamless return to normalcy. What we want is an off-ramp so schools have time to get back to regular rules,” Dean said.
The loss of these waivers also means significant logistical challenges for school administrators as they have to charge students again and track eligibility, said Katie Wilson, executive director of the Urban School Food Alliance, a nonprofit. created by school food service professionals.
“Families have not filled out free or reduced-price meal forms for the last two years. It will literally be impossible to get this information before the end of June,” Wilson said. “It will take a lot of communication and education for families to understand why this is changing when they are still underwater due to the pandemic. School nutrition programs are putting up with all of this, and it will only get worse when they have to find a way to charge parents again.”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said that with 90 percent of American schools open and kids back in the classroom, it’s unfortunate that instead of using the tools available to provide meals to students, the Republican leadership in Congress “has said no and has decided that they would rather let our children go hungry. This is a shame”.
