Federal money helps colleges give free meals to poor students.
H.R. 10415 — Food for Thought Act of 2026 · Filed by Nanette Barragán (D-CA) · 26 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 16, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill gives money to colleges and universities. They use it to feed low-income students for free. The money pays for food, cooking, and equipment. Free meals do not count against students' other federal benefits like SNAP.
Who it affects
Low-income college students get free meals. Colleges that serve many poor students can apply for money. Food companies may get more business.
One thing to notice
Students do not lose other federal benefits when they get free meals. Colleges must tell students about other help they can get.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
26 cosponsors: 26 Democrats.
- Sep 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- SNAP — A federal program that helps poor people buy food.
- low-income — Having very little money.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (14,443 characters) on Sep 19, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-22.
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