School lunch reauthorization likely to remain in limbo, SNA says

The Senate will attempt to push through a reauthorization of the school lunch program before Congress breaks this Friday, but schools dependant on the funding will likely remain in the holding pattern they've been in for nearly a year, a representative of the School Nutrition Association said yesterday during the group's annual conference.

The legislative branch will attempt to hotline the bill, says Cathy Schuchart, SVP of government affairs and media relations for the group, an association for school foodservice professionals. In that expedited process, unanimous consent is assumed and legislators are given a final opportunity to object. Even one opposition would put a hold on the Senate version of the reauthorization bill.

There are less than 25 days left of Congress’ legislative calendar before the government fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. Funding for the program technically ended on Sept. 30, 2015, but the program has been sustained though a series of continuing authorizations that in essence prolong the status quo until formal reauthorization is approved.

“The calendar is not working in our favor on a reauthorization this year,” says Schuchart. She attributes Congress’ lack of action on the Child Nutrition Reauthorizatin bill to issues viewed as more pressing, such as controlling the Zika virus, combating abuse of opioids and setting policy on genetically modified foods. “We are probably looking at one of those dreaded continuing resolutions, again,” Schuchart says.

As far as the House’s Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 introduced in May, Schuchart says her Capitol Hill sources are not sensing that the bill will move forward before the deadline, which she says is fine with the association. The House bill, introduced by Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., includes a block grant proposal for three undetermined states. The block grant would exempt participating states from federal regulations, farm-to-table grants and the 6 cent-per-lunch reimbursements granted to certified meal programs. The SNA and several democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., have opposed the bill. 

Overall, the SNA is uncertain over the fate of the bill, which might even get rolled up into 2017’s agricultural appropriations bill, according to Schuchart. “We have got a mess on our hands, to say the least,” she says.