Stop Child Hunger Act of 2025
The Stop Child Hunger Act of 2025 would broaden the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) program. In addition to providing benefits during summer months, the bill requires benefits to be available during school closure periods as well (defined as 5 or more consecutive weekdays when a school is closed, remote, or hybrid). For those days, families would receive benefits valued at least equal to the daily free-rate value of breakfast, lunch, and a snack. The bill also adds implementation funding and clarifies key terms, while altering the share of administrative costs the federal government will cover for states and tribal organizations over time. In practical terms, the bill aims to ensure low-income students have nutrition support not only when school is out for summer but also during any school closures that disrupt in-school meals. It creates a pathway for states to build or upgrade data systems to run the expanded program and provides a phased federal share of administrative costs, plus a one-time funding boost to implement the changes.
Key Points
- 1Expands Summer EBT to cover school closure periods in addition to summer months (defined as periods when schools are closed, remote, or hybrid for 5+ consecutive weekdays).
- 2Benefits for each day of summer or school-closure periods must be at least the daily value of breakfast, lunch, and a snack at the free rate, with this floor applying in 2025 and every year thereafter.
- 3Adds and clarifies definitions for implementation, including: free-rate value (as defined in FFCRA), and “school closure period.”
- 4Financial and administrative changes: the federal share of administrative expenses paid to States and covered Indian Tribes increases over time (100% in FY2026, then stepping down to 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, and 50% from FY2031 onward).
- 5Implementation grants and funding: authorizes a program to make grants to States to develop or upgrade data systems needed to implement the expanded program; provides a one-time transfer of $50 million on October 1, 2025, for implementation, available until expended.