United States HR 3037: Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2023

Bill Text

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118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 3037
To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require that supplemental
nutrition assistance program benefits be calculated using the value of
the low-cost food plan, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 2, 2023
Ms. ADAMS (for herself, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ,
Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. EVANS, Mr.
AUCHINCLOSS, Ms. OMAR, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. WILSON of
Florida, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illi-
nois, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms.
SEWELL, Mr. KILMER, Mr. TONKO, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr.
MCGOVERN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. DELBENE,
Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. TITUS, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Ms.
MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. NORTON,
Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. POCAN, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. MOULTON,
Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. MFUME, Mr. RUPPERS-
BERGER, Ms. CHU, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. MULLIN, Mr.
CA ́RDENAS, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. WATERS, Ms.
STEVENS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. GOMEZ, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. SALI-
NAS, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. KEATING, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. PIN-
GREE, Ms. MENG, and Mr. ESPAILLAT) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require
that supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits
be calculated using the value of the low-cost food plan,
and for other purposes.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Closing the Meal Gap 4
Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. CALCULATION OF PROGRAM BENEFITS USING LOW- 6
COST FOOD PLAN. 7
(a) DEFINITION OF LOW-COST FOOD PLAN.—Sec-8
tion 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 9
2012) is amended— 10
(1) by striking subsection (u); 11
(2) by redesignating subsections (n) through (t) 12
as subsections (o) through (u), respectively; and 13
(3) by inserting after subsection (m) the fol-14
lowing: 15
‘‘(n) LOW-COST FOOD PLAN.— 16
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘low-cost food 17
plan’ means the diet, determined in accordance with 18
the calculations of the Secretary, required to feed a 19
4-person family that consists of— 20
‘‘(A) a man and a woman who are each be-21
tween 19 and 50 years of age; 22
‘‘(B) a child who is between 6 and 8 years 23
of age; and 24
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‘‘(C) a child who is between 9 and 11 1
years of age. 2
‘‘(2) REEVALUATION.—By December 31, 2029, 3
and at 5-year intervals thereafter, the Secretary 4
shall reevaluate and publish the market baskets of 5
the low-cost food plan, based on current food prices, 6
food composition data, consumption patterns, and 7
dietary guidance. 8
‘‘(3) COST.—For purposes of paragraph (1), 9
the cost of the diet described in that paragraph shall 10
be the basis for uniform allotments for all house-11
holds regardless of the actual composition of the 12
household, except that the Secretary shall— 13
‘‘(A) make household-size adjustments 14
(based on the unrounded cost of that diet) tak-15
ing into account economies of scale; 16
‘‘(B) make cost adjustments in the low- 17
cost food plan for the State of Hawaii and the 18
urban and rural parts of the State of Alaska to 19
reflect the cost of food in Hawaii and urban 20
and rural Alaska, respectively; and 21
‘‘(C) on October 1, 2023, and each Octo-22
ber 1 thereafter, adjust the cost of the diet to 23
reflect the cost of the diet in the immediately 24
preceding June, and round the result to the 25
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nearest lower-dollar increment for each house-1
hold size.’’. 2
(b) VALUE OF ALLOTMENT.—Section 8(a) of the 3
Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2017(a)) is 4
amended— 5
(1) by striking ‘‘thrifty food plan’’ each place it 6
appears and inserting ‘‘low-cost food plan’’; and 7
(2) in the proviso, by striking ‘‘8 percent’’ and 8
inserting ‘‘10 percent’’. 9
(c) QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM.—Section 10
16(c)(1)(A)(ii) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 11
U.S.C. 2025(c)(1)(A)(ii)) is amended— 12
(1) in subclause (II)— 13
(A) by striking ‘‘thrifty food plan is ad-14
justed under section 3(u)(4)’’ and inserting 15
‘‘low-cost food plan is adjusted under section 16
3(n)(3)(D)’’; and 17
(B) by striking ‘‘2013’’ and inserting 18
‘‘2023’’; 19
(2) by redesignating subclause (II) as subclause 20
(III); and 21
(3) by striking subclause (I