What Happened?

If your child eats summer meals through the Summer Food Service Program or your family uses the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), funding for those programs has depended on annual appropriations since Sept. 30, 2015. Congress has not passed a comprehensive child nutrition programs reauthorization, which updates the permanent laws governing the programs, since then. ​

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), Congress' in-house research arm, reported the lapse, according to a Legis1 review of its report, Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR): An Overview. Authorizations of appropriations expired that day for three programs and activities:

  • Summer meals: The Summer Food Service Program's authorization of appropriations expired.
  • WIC: The nutrition assistance program for women, infants and children lost its authorization of appropriations.
  • State administration: Authorizations of appropriations for certain state administrative expenses also expired.

The programs themselves remain permanently authorized, but their funding has continued through appropriations acts. CRS confirms that Congress provided funding each fiscal year from 2016 through 2023, and subsequent appropriations continued to fund the programs.

Why Does it Matter to Me?

Not every program is affected. The main parts of the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Special Milk Program have permanent authorizations of appropriations with no expiration date, CRS says.

Those programs are large. CRS reports $18.9 billion in fiscal 2025 spending on school lunches, with 30 million participants on an average day. WIC received approximately $7.6 billion in fiscal 2025 appropriations, with 6.9 million participants in an average month.

The last comprehensive reauthorization was the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which became law Dec. 13, 2010. It created the Community Eligibility Provision, allowing eligible schools to provide free meals to all students, and required the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to update school meal nutrition standards.

CRS says most child nutrition funding is determined by formulas established in permanent law, while Congress decides WIC funding annually. The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, which became law March 15, 2025, provided approximately $7.6 billion for WIC.

Both Sides, Now

Congress holds the power here. Lawmakers can reauthorize the programs or continue funding them through annual appropriations, as they have for more than a decade.

Critics of relying on annual appropriations point to the risk of funding interruptions for families. Reuters reported on Oct. 23, 2025, that Minnesota, California, Pennsylvania and Texas were among states warning that November food assistance benefits would not be issued if a federal shutdown continued into the following week. That episode involved a government shutdown, not the expiration of child nutrition authorizations in 2015.

What Happens Next?

During the 117th Congress, the House Education and Labor Committee reported a House bill to reauthorize child nutrition programs, the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act (H.R. 8450). The committee filed its report Nov. 7, 2022, and Congress adjourned without taking further action on the legislation.

A new reauthorization would need to pass the House and Senate and be signed by the president. Separately, USDA published a final rule Nov. 6 on WIC online ordering, transactions, and food delivery, intended to remove barriers to online shopping. The rule is scheduled to take effect Dec. 7.

---

AllCiv makes it easy to stay politically informed and involved.

---

Spot something wrong? Report an issue with this article