School MEALS Act of 2025
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
School Modernization and Efficient Access to Lunches for Students Act of 2025 or the School MEALS Act of 2025
This bill establishes programs and revises requirements relating to direct certification processes for the National School Lunch Program. Direct certification allows schools to use data matching procedures to approve school meals without the need for applications for children who receive assistance under other programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Agriculture to provide grants and technical assistance for states and tribal organizations to improve their direct certification processes, including with respect to children who receive assistance under a food distribution program on Indian reservations.
The bill also expands the time frame for schools to elect and gather eligibility data for the Community Eligibility Provision. This provision permits schools in high-poverty areas to serve free meals to all enrolled students without the need for applications.
Further, the bill specifies that a state subject to a continuous improvement plan (for not directly certifying at least 95% of children eligible for direct certification because they receive SNAP benefits) must implement the improvement measures within three years.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on December 17, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 17, 2025: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Jahana Hayes (D-CT) introduced it on December 17, 2025, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on December 17, 2025, 268 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 268 days ago, on December 17, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers