Don't scroll past this excellent piece because you are not on SNAP. More people MUST understand the reconciliation process and why the terrible Big Bad Bill that Republicans jammed through took money from millions of Americans for many important programs to help billionaires avoid or reduce taxes. Thank you Prof. Wolfers!
The Food Research and Action Center posted this today:
Report Reveals More Schools Adopting Community Eligibility
to Address Child Hunger, SNAP Cuts Threaten Gains
WASHINGTON, July 22, 2026 – During the 2025–2026 school year, a record 55,362 schools offered breakfast and lunch to all their students through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), according to a new report released today by the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC).
The Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2025–2026 report looks at participation in CEP, a federal option that allows high-need schools and school districts to offer breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge. This year’s findings show 27.6 million children attended a CEP school, 386,019 more than the previous year.
“More schools are demonstrating that offering healthy school meals to every student at no charge is a game changer for children, families, and schools,” said Crystal FitzSimons, president of FRAC. “Healthy School Meals for All reduces hunger; supports health, academic achievement, and attendance; removes the stigma often associated with free or reduced-price school meals; eases the pressure on families’ household budgets at a time when many are struggling to afford basic needs; reduces administrative work; and eliminates school meal debt, allowing schools to focus on serving healthy and appealing meals. Congress must make it easier for eligible schools to participate in CEP.”
Despite CEP’s benefits, barriers, particularly inadequate federal reimbursement, prevent many eligible schools from adopting CEP. These challenges will only intensify as a result of the 2025 budget reconciliation law (H.R. 1), which enacted severe and unprecedented cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Schools directly certify children who participate in SNAP for free school meals, which helps determine whether a school qualifies for CEP and how much federal reimbursement it receives. As SNAP participation drops dramatically due to the cuts, and fewer children are directly certified, schools may lose eligibility for CEP or find that it is no longer financially viable to participate.
“Without congressional action to reverse the SNAP cuts, children will lose critical food benefits that help families keep hunger at bay, and the progress we have made on Healthy School Meals for All could unravel,” said FitzSimons.
FRAC urges Congress to reverse H.R. 1’s cuts to SNAP by passing the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025 , or addressing them in funding bills or other legislative vehicles that are moving forward. Looking ahead, Congress must pass a national Healthy School Meals for All policy to ensure no child faces hunger during the school day.
Read the full report and search FRAC’s online database to find CEP-eligible and CEP-adopting schools in your state and local community.
###
The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) improves the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the United States through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and equitable policy solutions. To learn more, visit FRAC.org and follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.
Programs like SNAP are an investment in a child’s future to produce a more healthy competent work force who will then be the taxpayers. If we want to avoid waste, fraud and abuse, we can start with the most obvious source, the military industrial complex. Just ask the Trump boys how much they’ve made in just one year from robbing the govt coffers with govt contracts in their “new” interest in drones and military supply companies.
Playing the part of contrarian here. I noticed that total spending on food stamps was 17.1 billion dollars in 2000 (33.8 billion in 2026 dollars) when Bill Clinton was president and that although spending on this program is down from the highs due to the recession and Covid, it is now about triple what it was in 2000 (at 100 billion per year). I don't remember people screaming that spending on food stamps was too low in 2000. Should this level of an increase not at least cause some concern? Why is triple what we spend in 2000 be deemed inadequate?
Regarding having the states pick up more of the cost and states not having the borrowing (& I must add money printing) ability of the federal government, is this not a good thing? I ask because federal borrowing is out of control and interest costs are huge and growing making it extremely difficult to even keep non-interest spending at current levels. It seems to me that a dose of realism caused by having to pay for government programs in real $'s right now is the best and moral way to run government programs as opposed to kicking the can down the road to future generations.
The BBB had tax cuts covering tip and overtime income, up to 6K in tax cuts for some seniors (related to Social Security), expanded child tax credits, and auto loan deductions; hardly cuts for the rich. Keeping the 2017 tax rates is not a tax cut. The raising of the SALT deduction was a high priority for the representatives from blue states.Raising the exemption for estate taxes means that people who have already paid taxes on their income don't get as much of it taken again when they die. The other deduction were small business oriented and were meant to help small businesses grow. I would love to see you cover these tax reductions in a future post.
I don't mean to come of as a stingy, selfish rich person (I'm not) but I do think that your readers deserve more than the "we cut taxes on the rich and cut much needed spending on the poor" story. There really is much more to the story.
It’s infuriating to watch this type of wealth pump for the rich built on the back of the poor and working class. I’ll never understand this kind of greed and callous disregard for others with less. We truly are living in a “shit hole” country.
Don't scroll past this excellent piece because you are not on SNAP. More people MUST understand the reconciliation process and why the terrible Big Bad Bill that Republicans jammed through took money from millions of Americans for many important programs to help billionaires avoid or reduce taxes. Thank you Prof. Wolfers!
The Food Research and Action Center posted this today:
Report Reveals More Schools Adopting Community Eligibility
to Address Child Hunger, SNAP Cuts Threaten Gains
WASHINGTON, July 22, 2026 – During the 2025–2026 school year, a record 55,362 schools offered breakfast and lunch to all their students through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), according to a new report released today by the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC).
The Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2025–2026 report looks at participation in CEP, a federal option that allows high-need schools and school districts to offer breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge. This year’s findings show 27.6 million children attended a CEP school, 386,019 more than the previous year.
“More schools are demonstrating that offering healthy school meals to every student at no charge is a game changer for children, families, and schools,” said Crystal FitzSimons, president of FRAC. “Healthy School Meals for All reduces hunger; supports health, academic achievement, and attendance; removes the stigma often associated with free or reduced-price school meals; eases the pressure on families’ household budgets at a time when many are struggling to afford basic needs; reduces administrative work; and eliminates school meal debt, allowing schools to focus on serving healthy and appealing meals. Congress must make it easier for eligible schools to participate in CEP.”
Despite CEP’s benefits, barriers, particularly inadequate federal reimbursement, prevent many eligible schools from adopting CEP. These challenges will only intensify as a result of the 2025 budget reconciliation law (H.R. 1), which enacted severe and unprecedented cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Schools directly certify children who participate in SNAP for free school meals, which helps determine whether a school qualifies for CEP and how much federal reimbursement it receives. As SNAP participation drops dramatically due to the cuts, and fewer children are directly certified, schools may lose eligibility for CEP or find that it is no longer financially viable to participate.
“Without congressional action to reverse the SNAP cuts, children will lose critical food benefits that help families keep hunger at bay, and the progress we have made on Healthy School Meals for All could unravel,” said FitzSimons.
FRAC urges Congress to reverse H.R. 1’s cuts to SNAP by passing the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025 , or addressing them in funding bills or other legislative vehicles that are moving forward. Looking ahead, Congress must pass a national Healthy School Meals for All policy to ensure no child faces hunger during the school day.
Read the full report and search FRAC’s online database to find CEP-eligible and CEP-adopting schools in your state and local community.
###
The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) improves the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the United States through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and equitable policy solutions. To learn more, visit FRAC.org and follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.
Programs like SNAP are an investment in a child’s future to produce a more healthy competent work force who will then be the taxpayers. If we want to avoid waste, fraud and abuse, we can start with the most obvious source, the military industrial complex. Just ask the Trump boys how much they’ve made in just one year from robbing the govt coffers with govt contracts in their “new” interest in drones and military supply companies.
This stuff is just enraging.
Playing the part of contrarian here. I noticed that total spending on food stamps was 17.1 billion dollars in 2000 (33.8 billion in 2026 dollars) when Bill Clinton was president and that although spending on this program is down from the highs due to the recession and Covid, it is now about triple what it was in 2000 (at 100 billion per year). I don't remember people screaming that spending on food stamps was too low in 2000. Should this level of an increase not at least cause some concern? Why is triple what we spend in 2000 be deemed inadequate?
Regarding having the states pick up more of the cost and states not having the borrowing (& I must add money printing) ability of the federal government, is this not a good thing? I ask because federal borrowing is out of control and interest costs are huge and growing making it extremely difficult to even keep non-interest spending at current levels. It seems to me that a dose of realism caused by having to pay for government programs in real $'s right now is the best and moral way to run government programs as opposed to kicking the can down the road to future generations.
The BBB had tax cuts covering tip and overtime income, up to 6K in tax cuts for some seniors (related to Social Security), expanded child tax credits, and auto loan deductions; hardly cuts for the rich. Keeping the 2017 tax rates is not a tax cut. The raising of the SALT deduction was a high priority for the representatives from blue states.Raising the exemption for estate taxes means that people who have already paid taxes on their income don't get as much of it taken again when they die. The other deduction were small business oriented and were meant to help small businesses grow. I would love to see you cover these tax reductions in a future post.
I don't mean to come of as a stingy, selfish rich person (I'm not) but I do think that your readers deserve more than the "we cut taxes on the rich and cut much needed spending on the poor" story. There really is much more to the story.
Thoughtful comment. Thanks, Barry.
You led me to look into the numbers a bit, and the most important change is that the number of people on SNAP has roughly doubled since 2000.
It’s infuriating to watch this type of wealth pump for the rich built on the back of the poor and working class. I’ll never understand this kind of greed and callous disregard for others with less. We truly are living in a “shit hole” country.