Sponsors (2)
The bill expands Summer EBT to reduce child food insecurity and help families during summer and unexpected school closures, but it increases federal spending and creates short-term implementation burdens and some long-term state cost pressures.
Low-income children and their families 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 child food insecurity and easing household meal budgets and planning.
States and Tribal organizations receive enhanced federal administrative reimbursement (100% in FY2026, tapering to 50% thereafter), lowering initial state implementation costs and encouraging program uptake in the early years.
A one-time $50 million transfer funds state data system upgrades needed to implement the Summer EBT expansion, improving program delivery, eligibility verification, and beneficiary access.
Expanding eligibility and raising benefit levels will increase federal program costs, potentially requiring budget offsets or adding to federal budgetary pressures.
States may face significant short-term operational and administrative burdens to expand systems and processes, which could disrupt benefit delivery during rollout.
After the initial years, administrative reimbursement falls back to 50% (post-FY2031), raising long-term state costs to maintain the expanded program.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Expands Summer EBT to cover school-closure periods, increases benefit to cover free-rate breakfast, lunch, and a snack per eligible child/day, phases USDA admin reimbursements, and provides $50M for state system grants.
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 qualifying school closure periods, increases the per-child benefit to at least the free-rate value of breakfast, lunch, and a snack for each eligible day beginning in calendar year 2025, and changes how USDA reimburses state administrative costs with a phased schedule that starts at 100% in FY2026 and declines to 50% in FY2031 and later. The bill also directs a one-time $50 million transfer from the Treasury to USDA on October 1, 2025 to fund state data system development or upgrades for implementing these changes.