WASHINGTON, DC – PA U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, along with some of his Democrat Senate colleagues, introduced legislation to permanently increases the federal reimbursement level for school meals to help address funding challenges, enhance menus, and increase access to locally grown food. The measure increases the federal reimbursement level for all free, reduced-price, and paid-rate school meals by 45 cents for every lunch served and 28 cents for every breakfast served, with a yearly adjustment. There are 9 million American children facing food insecurity. There are over 30 million children in the U.S. who can’t afford their school meals, and the national public school meal debt is a whopping $262 million a year. In PA alone, there are nearly half a million food insecure children who collectively owe nearly $80 million in debt.
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN