Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representatives Brittany Pettersen (CO-07), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), and Darren Soto (FL-09) introduced the Feed Our Kids Act, which would provide free breakfast, lunch, and afterschool snacks to every student in K-12 public schools in Colorado and across the country.

This legislation comes as House Democrats sounded the alarm on the devastating nutrition cuts jammed through by House Republicans in the Farm Bill last week. This Republican-led bill would lock in cuts to critical funding for school meals, SNAP, and local food programs that threaten to push hundreds of thousands of students into hunger.

As a state legislator, Pettersen sponsored the referred measure that voters passed to create the Colorado Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program, which provides funding to schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students in public schools. Colorado’s HSMA program provides over 600,000 free meals daily and has improved meal quality while supporting local agriculture and farmers. 

“Making sure every kid has access to a healthy meal at school reduces costs for families and ensures that every student has the ability to grow and thrive,” said Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen. “We’ve seen the impact free school meals have in Colorado, and we know this bill is a critical step toward supporting our families, both in and out of the classroom.” 

“You can’t propel a rocket without fuel. The same goes for a growing student,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer. “Too many children in New Jersey are still showing up to school every morning with the tank reading empty. In the greatest country in the world, it is simply unacceptable that one in seven children in our state faces food insecurity. The Feed Our Kids Act will change that — no stigma, no bureaucracy, no child left hungry.”

More than forty-seven million people in the United States face hunger. One in four Americans report skipping meals because they simply cannot afford their grocery bills. Research shows that students who eat breakfast and lunch perform better in the classroom, have stronger memory recall, are less likely to be absent or repeat a grade, and have fewer behavioral and attention problems. Students who are properly nourished also have healthier lifelong diets and are less susceptible to obesity-related health issues. Additionally, studies show that addressing hunger reduces violent crime, making communities safer and stronger.

Specifically, The Feed Our Kids Act would:

• Provide free breakfast, lunch, and afterschool snacks to every student in K-12 public schools across America.

• Eliminate unpaid meal debt from schools and remove burdensome application paperwork for qualifying families.

• Ensure meals are nutritious and locally sourced when possible.

• Extend meal access during summer break and sudden school closures so no child’s nutrition falls through the cracks.

• Eliminate the stigma associated with means-tested meal programs by making access universal.

• Provide Congress with a report on the impacts of free school meals and provide recommendations to ensure that schools are using nutritious meals that are locally sourced from farmers.