Congress expands summer meals to all children, removes congregate-site requirement
S. 2559 — Summer Meals REACH Act of 2025 · Filed by Andy Kim (D-NJ) · Introduced Jul 30, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the federal summer meal program for children to eliminate several operational restrictions. It allows meals to be served in non-congregate settings (not requiring children to gather in one place), expands eligibility to all children regardless of income, removes geographic and site-type limitations on where meals can be served, and streamlines monitoring requirements. The bill shifts from means-tested summer feeding to universal access.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to remove restrictions on a federal child feeding program, broadening access and flexibility in how meals are delivered. This is a straightforward expansion of an existing public benefit program.
What the text implies
- Non-congregate meal service may reduce stigma and increase participation among children who avoid congregate sites due to social concerns.
- Universal eligibility removes administrative burden of income verification but may increase program costs if uptake rises significantly.
- Offsite monitoring flexibility could reduce oversight capacity if not paired with adequate staffing and inspection protocols.
- Expansion to all children (not just low-income) may shift program identity from targeted anti-poverty measure to universal child nutrition benefit.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill removes barriers to summer meal access for children, particularly low-income and rural children who may lack transportation to congregate sites. Universal eligibility and non-congregate service expand the reach of a nutrition program designed to prevent summer hunger.
Who stands to gain
- school districts and meal service providers (expanded program scope and flexibility)
- food service contractors (potential increase in meal volume and service locations)
Named in the bill
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), school districts, summer food service program, 7 CFR 225.15(d)
Where it stands
- Jul 30, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 30, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $0 in lobbying spend. A filing names 14 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Andy Kim, the sponsor, reported $74,900 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Mazon: a Jewish Response to Hunger — $0 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 16, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,511 characters) on Sep 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,398 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.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 16, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-23.
“Congress expands summer meals to all children, removes congregate-site requirement” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s2559 Report an error
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