However, because of concerns over the cost of any renewal of expiring child nutrition and WIC program authorities and of new proposals that went beyond current law (and how to pay for these new initiatives), Congress delayed action on a comprehensive bill and enacted a one-year extension (through September 30, 2010) of expiring authorities as part of the FY2010 appropriations law for the Agriculture Department. The Administration proposed spending $10 billion over the next 10 years in an effort to "end childhood hunger by 2015," but did not advance specific program changes or ways to offset any new costs. After more than a year of debate, Congress responded with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 ( P.L. 111-296 ; enacted December 13, 2010). 111-296 includes the most extensive changes in child nutrition/WIC programs since the 1970s, it requires much less new spending than the Administration called for and includes a relatively controversial provision reducing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the food stamp program) benefits as one of its offsetting savings. A section-by-section summary of the law can be found in " Summary of 's Provisions," below. 111-296 , child nutrition and WIC programs were last amended in a substantial way by the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 ( P.L. The most recent legislation
increases funding for school lunches and links this new money to schools meeting updated nutrition standards; provides for gradually increasing prices for school lunches served to paying (non-poor) students; increases access to free school meals by (1) expanding automatic (direct) certification of those receiving public assistance benefits, and (2) giving schools new options to offer free meals to all students; requires updated school meal nutrition standards and professional standards for school meal providers; broadens coverage of and support for local school "wellness policies"; establishes nutrition standards for foods sold in competition with school meals (e.g., a la carte foods and those sold from vending machines); encourages "farm-to-school" and other initiatives to combat childhood obesity; expands support for food service through summer programs and after-school and outside-of-school programs; adds to food safety requirements for foods served on school campuses and foods provided by the Agriculture Department; improves food procurement practices used by schools; increases WIC program support for breastfeeding; establishes a time frame for introducing electronic benefit transfer systems to the WIC program; improves schools' accountability for proper program operations; introduces new rules for nutrition standards and heightened physical activity in child care settings; and supports and finances state and local initiatives to end childhood hunger. The bill reported by the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee (with costs of just under $5 billion over 10 years) included four offsets. One would have substantially reduced payments for the Agriculture Department's Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and the other would have, over the long term, effectively cut spending for the nutrition education component of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp program). Largely in response to criticism of the EQIP offset from the agricultural community and others, the child nutrition/WIC reauthorization bill passed by the Senate on August 5, 2010, and the final version of the new child nutrition reauthorization law replaces it with a provision that reduces future SNAP/food stamp benefits by terminating an across-the-board benefit increase legislated in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA; P.L. In the end, P.L. 111-296)

On December 13, 2010, S. 3307 , the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 , was enacted as P.L. This followed Senate approval on August 5, 2010, and House passage on December 2, 2010. 5504 , as extensively revised in the committee). Background, Costs, and Cost Offsets

On May 5, 2010, the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee reported the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 ( S. 3307 ; S.Rept. 111-178 ). On August 5, 2010, the Senate approved an amended version of S. 3307 . 111-296's Provisions

In addition to reauthorization of all expiring authorities/programs in the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act and the four cost-saving measures noted above, P.L. Congress plays an oversight role as USDA implements these policies. 111-296

In large part, the bill approved by the 111 th Congress's House Education and Labor Committee (the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act; H.R. 5504 ) included a number of provisions that went beyond or substantially differed from those in the Senate's bill.
The most recent WIC and child nutrition reauthorization, P.L. 111-296, "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010," was signed into law at the end of the 111th Congress on December 13, 2010. Subsequently, Congress plays an oversight role as the U.S. Department of Agriculture promulgates rules, releases guidance, and otherwise implements the legislation. This report features a summary of the legislative history of P.L. 111-296 as well as a section-by-section summary of what was contained within the law. For a brief overview of this periodic reauthorization, see CRS In Focus IF10266, An Introduction to Child Nutrition Reauthorization, by [author name scrubbed].
A comprehensive congressional review ("reauthorization") of the primary laws governing child nutrition and WIC programs (the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act) had been scheduled for 2009 (the last reauthorization was in 2004). Congress did not meet the September 30, 2009, deadline for comprehensive reauthorization. Instead, a one-year extension (through September 30, 2010) was included in the FY2010 Agriculture Department appropriations measure to give Congress time to consider a full reauthorization bill. The delay in child nutrition/WIC reauthorization was primarily due to a lack of agreement on how to fund any new child nutrition initiatives subject to congressional "pay-go" rules. The Administration had proposed spending $10 billion over the next 10 years on expanding child nutrition efforts to "end childhood hunger by 2015," but did not offer specific policy changes or spending/revenue offsets. In 2010, Congress moved to begin the process of enacting the most sweeping changes in child nutrition and WIC programs since the 1970s.
In May 2010, the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee reported the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (S. 3307; S.Rept. 111-178). It legislated substantial changes in the child nutrition and WIC programs (most importantly, increasing federal financing for school lunches) that were estimated to cost just about $4.5 billion over 10 years. It also included spending reductions in other programs that offset this cost. Most significantly, it (1) reduced payments under the Agriculture Department's Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and (2) included a restructuring of, and long-term cut in spending for, the nutrition education component of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp program). On August 5, 2010, the Senate approved an amended version of S. 3307. It differed from the committee-reported version of the bill in that it replaced savings from the EQIP offset with spending reductions achieved by reducing future benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp program) and dropped authority for the Agriculture Department to bar certain foods from the WIC program.
In July 2010, the House Education and Labor Committee approved the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act (H.R. 5504, as extensively amended in committee). This bill included provisions that were much the same as the Senate initiative, but the anticipated cost (more than $7 billion over 10 years) would have been substantially larger because of provisions expanding child nutrition efforts well beyond those in the Senate's bill and only relatively minimal offsets.
After lengthy internal debates over the cost of any child nutrition/WIC reauthorization initiative and how to pay for it, the House approved the Senate's bill on December 2, 2010, and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was enacted on December 13, 2010 (P.L. 111-296).