February 4, 2022

Honorable Rosa L. DeLauro Chairwoman

House Committee on Appropriations

Honorable Patrick Leahy

Chairman

Senate Committee on Appropriations

Honorable Sanford Bishop, Jr.

Chairman

Development, Food and Drug

Administration, and Related Agencies

Honorable Kay Granger

Ranking Member

House Committee on Appropriations

Honorable Richard Shelby

Vice Chairman

Senate Committee on Appropriations

Honorable Andy Harris

Administration, and Related Agencies

Senate Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural

Development, Food and Drug

Administration, and Related Agencies

CC:

Honorable Debbie Stabenow

Chairwoman

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House Committee on Education and Labor

Honorable Virginia Foxx Ranking Member

Shalanda Young

Dear Chairwoman DeLauro, Ranking Member Granger, Chairman Leahy, Vice Chairman

Shelby, Chairman Bishop, Ranking Member Harris, Chairwoman Baldwin, Ranking Member

Hoeven,

We, the undersigned national, state, and local organizations, ask you to further extend

-2023 in recognition of the

ongoing pandemic, the continuing school closures, and the need for flexibility to meet the

needs of students.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture

government agencies, and nonprofit organizations to adapt as necessary to changes such as

Emergency Assistance Act (Public Law 117-43). Without these waivers, the child nutrition

programs would not have been able to adequately respond to the fallout from COVID- 19.

Throughout the pandemic schools and community meal sponsors have relied on these waivers to

keep children fed during short- and long-term closures, alleviate child hunger, and advance racial

equity and child well-being.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. Families continue to need support,

particularly Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous families who disproportionately lack reliable access

to healthy meals, and school nutrition departments and community sponsors still struggle to

operate under the unique circumstances created by the pandemic. Contrary to where many people

thought and hoped we would be at this point in the pandemic, COVID-19 continues to be a threat

The authority to provide a nationwide waiver in response to the pandemic, even if it increases

program costs, has only been extended to June 30, 2022 and waivers cannot be provided beyond

the 2021-2022 school year (which the statute defines as ending each year on June 30). This

arbitrary deadline means that summer meal programs will not be able to operate under the same

program rules through the entire summer, forcing many providers to stop serving meals or shut

down altogether and leaving millions of children without access to healthy meals. The June 30

th

need to recover from the impacts of the pandemic and resume normal operations.

We, the undersigned national, state and local organizations, ask Congress to further extend

-2023 to ensure USDA has

continued flexibility to respond to the ongoing and evolving impacts of the pandemic as

well as its aftermath, and to ensure that the federal child nutrition programs continue to

Sincerely,