Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is pressing Congress to renew child nutrition waivers by next month, when millions of children will no longer qualify for free school meals during summer vacation.
The Department of Agriculture waivers, which give schools the flexibility to provide meals to children regardless of family income, are set to expire at the end of June. Unless Congress can pull together the votes to extend them, the Agriculture Department has said its hands are tied for universal school lunches, and funding for the school meal programs will drop by roughly 40%.
