“Democratic lawmakers will introduce a bill late Wednesday to make permanent a temporary children’s summer food program created because of the pandemic. The proposed law would cement and slightly expand a program first created in the American Rescue Plan that provides cash for an estimated 33 million kids in low-income families. Earlier this year, the Biden administration called it ‘the largest summer food program in U.S. history.’ The effort would also secure one piece of the expanded social safety net the country has developed during the national emergency created by Covid-19 – just as some Republican states are beginning to cut such benefits. ‘We’ve seen lines that stretch for miles at food banks across the country this past year – this pandemic has to be a wakeup call for America,’ said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who will introduce the bill Wednesday. ‘Hunger doesn’t take time off when school buildings are closed, so neither can we.'”

“The Child Nutrition Act, which encompasses many of the food programs that feed low-income families, is up for reauthorization this year. While it has received bipartisan support in the past, in recent years it has not been fully reauthorized because of bipartisan divisions. Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans do not appear close to hammering out a deal on the infrastructure package, though President Joe Biden has included a form of Murray’s bill in the most recent plan. The staffer admitted they are hanging their hopes on the Democrats’ slim margins in Congress, as ‘it’s tough in general to get Republicans on a nutrition bill'” – NBC News.