	Background

Child nutrition programs and the WIC program provide cash, commodity, and other assistance (including funds for nutrition services and food packages in the WIC program and technical assistance and administrative cost aid in child nutrition programs) under three major federal laws: the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (originally enacted as the National School Lunch Act in 1946), the Child Nutrition Act (originally enacted in 1966), and Section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. The most recent reauthorization was in 2004 ( P.L. 108-265 ); the next reauthorization is scheduled for 2009. At the local level, program benefits are provided to more than 40 million children and infants, and some 2 million lower-income pregnant and post-partum women, through some 100,000 public and private schools and residential child care institutions, about 200,000 child care centers and family day care homes, approximately 30,000 summer program sites, and (in the case of the WIC program) about 10,000 local health care clinics/sites operated by nearly 2,000 health agencies. 1. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (The WIC Program)

The WIC Program provides food assistance, nutrition risk screening, and related services (e.g., nutrition education and breastfeeding support, medical care referral) to low-income pregnant and postpartum women and their infants, as well as to children up to age 5 from low-income families. The program also provides states with funding for administrative costs and nutrition services (like nutrition education). Day Care, Summer, and After-School Programs

In addition to the school-day-based lunch and breakfast programs, child nutrition laws include provisions for federal subsidies and commodity support for schools and other institutions/ organizations offering meals and snacks to children in outside-of-school program settings. Federal assistance is made up overwhelmingly of cash subsidies based on the number of meals/snacks served and federally set indexed per-meal/snack subsidy rates; about 3% is in the form of federally donated food commodities. All snacks/meals generally are served free. Other Child Nutrition Programs, Initiatives, and Support Activities

Child nutrition laws also support a range of smaller programs, initiatives, and activities. States are entitled to federal grants to help cover administrative and oversight/monitoring costs associated with child nutrition programs. Federal costs for this program typically run about $15 million a year.
Federally supported child nutrition programs and initiatives, along with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (the WIC program) reach more than 40 million children and some 2 million lower-income pregnant/post-partum women. In FY2007, federal spending on these programs totaled over $19 billion.
The basic goals of federal child nutrition programs are to improve children's nutrition, increase lower-income children's access to nutritious meals and snacks, and help support the agricultural economy. Child nutrition programs are "entitlements." Federal cash funding and commodity support is "guaranteed" to schools and other providers based on the number of meals/snacks served, who is served (e.g., free meals for poor children get higher subsidies), and legislatively established (and inflation-indexed) per-meal subsidy rates. On the other hand, the WIC program is a "discretionary" grant program where specific annual appropriations to pay for benefits and nutrition services and administration are distributed by formula.
In addition to the WIC program (and its ancillary farmers' market program), the child nutrition programs covered in this report include the School Lunch and Breakfast programs (providing federal subsidies for meals served in schools), day-care, summer and other outside-of-school programs assisting sponsors in providing meals/snacks, and payments to states covering administrative oversight costs, expenses for a Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program, the Special Milk program, and various support activities (e.g., various administrative oversight and nutrition education activities).
The underlying laws covering child nutrition and WIC programs were last reauthorized in 2004 in the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act (P.L. 108-265). The next reauthorization is scheduled for 2009. The Administration's FY2010 budget calls for increased funding of approximately $1 billion a year for child nutrition programs (for "program reforms aimed at improving program access, enhancing the nutritional quality of school meals, expanding nutrition research and evaluation, and improving program oversight").
This report will be updated as warranted by significant changes in the programs covered and major legislative initiatives.