# 119-s-4518: Universal School Meals Program Act of 2026

119-s-4518, Universal School Meals Program Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] (I-VT); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-15).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4518
- As of: 2026-10-15
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-4518
- Congress: 119
- Title: Universal School Meals Program Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-05-13
- Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] (I-VT)
- Cosponsors: 19
- Policy area: Agriculture and Food
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-15

## Summary

**This bill would create universal free school meals** for all children in participating schools and replace means-tested free or reduced-price meal rules with a single entitlement. It would also set up a new ESEA-based poverty measure and a Summer EBT cash benefit to extend nutrition support into the summer months. - Families and students: Would guarantee free breakfast and lunch at participating schools and add a Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer of $60 per eligible child per month in 2026, with future amounts indexed to diet costs. - Child care and afterschool providers: Would expand the Child and Adult Care Food Program to more private nonresidential care and require all CACFP meals be free. Reimbursements would follow free-meal rates, with supplements starting at $1.28 and afterschool meals at $5.42, both adjusted for inflation. - Schools and program administrators: Would replace free-or-reduced-price lunch counts with an ESEA-based economically disadvantaged student measure for eligibility and funding. The bill would prohibit debt collection and shaming for meal charges and create a Delinquent Debt Reimbursement Program to clear prior meal debt within 180 days of the program's start, with a Comptroller General report due within two years.

## Cosponsors (19)

- Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY] (D-NY), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI] (D-HI), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] (D-CT), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] (D-OR), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Fetterman, John [D-PA] (D-PA), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA] (D-MA), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Kim, Andy [D-NJ] (D-NJ), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA] (D-CA), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] (D-NM), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN] (D-MN), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD] (D-MD), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] (D-WI), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ] (D-AZ), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Hickenlooper, John W. [D-CO] (D-CO), 2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Free school breakfasts and lunches: benefit, medium. If enacted, every child in a participating school would get free breakfast and free lunch. The bill would remove the statutory "reduced-price" meal category so schools would not charge reduced-price fees in participating schools. These changes would begin one year after the law is enacted.
- Monthly summer cash for eligible kids: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would create a Summer EBT cash benefit for eligible children. For calendar year 2026 the benefit would be $60 per eligible child per month. Starting in 2027 the monthly amount would be adjusted each year by the change in the Food and Nutrition Act cost-of-diet measure and round…
- More free child care and summer meals: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Child and Adult Care Food Program would cover more private, nonresidential child care and out-of-school day care and require all CACFP meals and supplements to be free to participants. CACFP supplements would start at $1.28 and be indexed for inflation, and providers could claim no…
- No meal debt collection; debt relief: benefit, medium. If enacted, schools that participate in the breakfast or lunch programs could not collect unpaid meal charges or single out students to shame them. The bill would require the Agriculture Secretary to set up a program to reimburse schools for delinquent meal debt that existed as of the Act's effecti…
- School meal payment and local pay: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would set the national federal payment at $3.28 per free breakfast and $5.42 per free lunch. Those baseline amounts and extra local-food payments ($0.30 lunch/supper, $0.21 breakfast, $0.08 supplement) would be adjusted each year by the food-away-from-home CPI and rounded down…
- New school poverty measure and targeting: mixed, high. If enacted, the bill would create a new ESEA-based "economically disadvantaged student" measure and let schools use a short template survey, maintained records, and direct certification to identify those students. The Education Secretary would use that measure to set a new State allocation factor e…

## Related bills

- 119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act
- 119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026
- 119-s-1503: Equality Act
- 119-s-852: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-s-4518 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4518)

## Related
- [119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5066)
- [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990)
- [119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-51)
- [119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5108)
- [119-s-1503: Equality Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1503)
- [119-s-852: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-852)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4518 (as of 2026-10-15).