Sponsors (4)
The bill expands Summer EBT to provide daily meals to low-income children and helps states get started with higher early reimbursements and a one-time IT grant, trading larger federal spending and potential long-term state cost and implementation burdens for reduced child food insecurity and improved program access.
Low-income children and families with school-aged children will receive daily Summer EBT benefits during summer months and qualifying multi-day school closures (5+ weekdays) equal to free-rate breakfast, lunch, and a snack, reducing childhood food insecurity and easing household meal costs and planning.
States and Tribal organizations get temporarily enhanced federal administrative reimbursement (100% in FY2026 tapering thereafter), lowering early implementation costs and encouraging program uptake.
A one-time $50 million transfer to states for data system upgrades will improve Summer EBT implementation, program delivery, and beneficiary access to benefits.
All taxpayers and the federal budget will face higher federal program costs due to expanded eligibility and higher benefit levels, increasing budgetary pressures or the need for offsets.
States may see increased long-term administrative costs after initial years because federal reimbursement drops back to 50% after FY2031, shifting more maintenance costs to state budgets.
State agencies could face short-term operational challenges and added administrative burden to expand systems and processes despite grants, risking rollout delays or temporary disruptions in benefit delivery.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Expands Summer EBT to cover school closure periods and summer months, raises per-child daily benefits to the free-rate value, phases federal admin reimbursement from 100% (FY2026) down to 50% (FY2031+), and provides a $50M one-time implementation transfer.
Official title: To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to expand the summer electronic benefits transfer for children program to include benefit transfer during school closures, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 6, 2025 by Mike Levin · Last progress May 6, 2025
Expands the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) program to provide benefits not only during summer months but also during multi-day school closure periods, and raises the per-child benefit to at least the free-rate value of breakfast, lunch, and a snack for each eligible child for every day of the summer or qualifying closure. Changes the federal administrative reimbursement to states on a phased schedule (100% in FY2026 down to 50% in FY2031 and thereafter) and directs a one-time $50 million transfer from the Treasury to USDA on October 1, 2025 to fund state system development and upgrades. The bill updates definitions (including “free rate” and “school closure period”), makes conforming edits to the National School Lunch Act, affects USDA, state agencies, and covered Indian Tribal organizations, and provides advance-appropriated funds that remain available until expended for implementation grants to develop or upgrade State data systems.