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Military Dependents School Meal Eligibility Act of 2026
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to exclude certain military housing allowances from the calculation of household income, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends school lunch and breakfast programs to address military families' eligibility. It directs the Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Defense, to submit a report by October 1, 2026, on the feasibility and cost of establishing direct certification procedures that would automatically qualify children in military households for free or reduced-price school meals without requiring additional applications. The report should evaluate options including using military assistance data and excluding non-service member income from household income calculations. The bill also amends the National School Lunch Act to exclude the basic allowance for housing from income calculations when determining meal eligibility for military families.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Levin, Mike [D-CA-49] (D-CA)
2 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Mike Levin’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $64,547
- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SAN DIEGO $18,365
- GOOGLE $14,450
- CHEMBRIDGE CORP $13,200
- PIMCO $13,200
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Mike Levin → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jan 27, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. · house
- Jan 27, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 27, 2026
Mr. Levin (for himself and Mr. Mackenzie) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to exclude certain military housing allowances from the calculation of household income, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Military Dependents School Meal Eligibility Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE MEMBERS OF A HOUSEHOLD OF A MEMBER OF A UNIFORMED SERVICE.
(a) Report.—
(1) In general.—Not later than October 1, 2026, the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a report on the feasibility and cost of establishing procedures under which children who are members of a household of a member of a uniformed service may be certified as eligible for free or reduced price lunches under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and free or reduced price breakfasts under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.), without further application.
(2) Contents.—The report required under paragraph (1) shall evaluate a range of options for implementing direct certification, including—
(A) the use and sharing of data collected for the calculation of the basic needs allowance under section 402b of title 37, United States Code, and other assistance programs for members of a uniformed service; and
(B) the exclusion of non-service member income from the calculation of household income under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.).
(b) Exclusion of Basic Allowance for Housing From Income Calculation.—Section 9(b)(13) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(13)) is amended by striking “, on behalf of” and all that follows through “related provision of law”. <all>
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