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HR 7 99th Congress House Agriculture and Food Administrative procedure Aid to dependent children Authorization Child health Child nutrition Children and youth Congressional oversight Cost effectiveness Economics and Public Finance Education Federal-state relations Food and Food Industry Food relief Food stamps Government paperwork Kindergarten Maternal and infant welfare Milk Nutrition

School Lunch and Child Nutrition Amendments of 1985

Introduced: January 3, 1985 See on congress.gov
This bill died when the 99th Congress ended
It never became law before the 99th Congress (1985–1986) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 36 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Oct 17, 1986
H.J.RES. 738 passed in Senate relating to this measure.
Feb 5, 1986
Conference committee actions: Conference held.
Feb 5, 1986
Conference held.
Jan 30, 1986
Executive Comment Received From USDA.
Jan 29, 1986
Conference held.
Jan 29, 1986
Conference committee actions: Conference held.
Dec 3, 1985
Resolving differences -- House actions: House Disagreed to Senate Amendments by Unanimous Consent.
Dec 3, 1985
House Agreed to Request for Conference and Speaker Appointed Conferees: Hawkins, Ford (MI), Kildee, Williams, Martinez, Owens, Boucher, Perkins, Jeffords, Goodling, Chandler, McKernan, Fawell.
Dec 3, 1985
House Disagreed to Senate Amendments by Unanimous Consent.
Nov 22, 1985
Senate insists on its amendments, asks for a conference, appoints conferees Helms; Hawkins; Lugar; Cochran; Boschwitz; Zorinsky; Melcher; Dixon; Harkin.
Nov 22, 1985
Passed Senate with an amendment by Voice Vote.
Nov 22, 1985
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Voice Vote.
Nov 22, 1985
Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent.
Nov 22, 1985
Senate Committee on Agriculture discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Oct 3, 1985
Committee on Agriculture requested executive comment from Agriculture Department.
Sep 19, 1985
Received in the Senate and read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture.
Sep 18, 1985
House Agreed to Amendments Adopted by the Committee of the Whole.
Sep 18, 1985
Passed House (Amended) by Yea-Nay Vote: 367 - 59 (Record Vote No: 312).
Sep 18, 1985
Passed/agreed to in House: Passed House (Amended) by Yea-Nay Vote: 367 - 59 (Record Vote No: 312).
Sep 18, 1985
Committee Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute Considered as an Original Bill for the Purpose of Amendment.
Sep 12, 1985
Considered by House Unfinished Business.
Sep 12, 1985
Rule Passed House.
Sep 12, 1985
Called up by House by Rule.
Sep 11, 1985
Rules Committee Resolution H.Res.262 Reported to House.
Sep 11, 1985
Rule Granted Providing an Open Rule with 1 Hour of Debate. Waiver of Points of Order.
May 15, 1985
Placed on Union Calendar No: 58.
May 15, 1985
Reported to House (Amended) by House Committee on Education and Labor. Report No: 99-96.
May 7, 1985
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
May 7, 1985
Ordered to be Reported (Amended).
May 1, 1985
Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee (Amended).
May 1, 1985
Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
Apr 2, 1985
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
Apr 1, 1985
Executive Comment Requested from USDA.
Mar 4, 1985
Referred to Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary and Vocational Education.
Jan 3, 1985
Referred to House Committee on Education and Labor.
Jan 3, 1985
Introduced in House
 Amendments to this bill 7

Amendments propose changes to this bill. Members vote on amendments separately before the final bill vote. An agreed amendment becomes part of the bill; a failed amendment does not.

5 failed 2 pending / other

AmendmentSponsorPurposeStatusLatest action
HAMDT 433 An amendment changing the effective date to October 1, 1985 specified sections in the bill. Pending Sep 18, 1985
HAMDT 426 An amendment to eliminate assistance for non needy children under the National School Lunch Act and the Child… Failed Sep 18, 1985
HAMDT 425 A substitute amendment to the Bartlett amendment to establish income guidelines for subsidized meals under th… Failed Sep 18, 1985
HAMDT 424 An amendment to the Armey substitute amendment to the Bartlett amendment adding language that makes commodity… Failed Sep 18, 1985
HAMDT 423 An amendment to add a new section requiring the Secretary to conduct an analysis of program requirements unde… Pending Sep 18, 1985
HAMDT 422 An amendment to delay the July 1, 1986 adjustment to reimbursements in the school lunch and child nutrition p… Failed Sep 18, 1985
HAMDT 421 An amendment to strike section 4, Food Service Equipment Assistance. The section appropriates $1,000,000 to … Failed Sep 12, 1985
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 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

School Lunch and Child Nutrition Amendments of 1985 - Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the National School Lunch Act to authorize FY 1985 through 1988 appropriations for: (1) the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children (WIC); (2) State administrative expenses; (3) the nutrition education training (NET) program; (4) the childrens' summer food service program; and (5) the commodity distribution program.

Increases NET authorizations.

Reduces the student cost of a reduced price lunch from 40 cents to 25 cents and of a reduced price breakfast from 30 cents to 15 cents.

Increases reduced meal income eligibility limits from 185 percent to 195 percent of the poverty level.

Provides an additional six cents per breakfast to increase the nutritional quality of such program. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to promulgate related nutritional improvement regulations.

Extends the lunch program "offer versus serve" provision to the breakfast program. Permits a child to refuse one breakfast item if such refusal option is permitted by the local school food authority.

Raises the program tuition limit under such Act for private schools from $1,500 to $2,500. Requires annual inflation adjustments.

Increases the number of reimbursable meals and snacks under the child care food program.

Excludes certain medical expenses from household income for program eligibility purposes.

Eliminates the requirement that free meal eligibility be the same as that required for food stamp eligibility.

Prohibits the Secretary from requiring school lunch program income verification unless the direct cost of such verification is appropriated.

Makes kindergartens in specified schools eligible for the special milk program.

Establishes a tiered-payment system for the child care food program.

Obligates specified food service equipment appropriations for low-income area schools.

States that school food facilities and personnel may be used for nonprofit nutrition programs for the elderly.

Prohibits the Secretary, through FY 1986, from reducing child nutrition benefit eligibility unless legislatively directed.

Qualifies children participating in the food stamp or aid to families with dependent children (AFDC) programs for free breakfasts and lunches.

Makes specified nonprofit private sponsors eligible for the summer feeding program.

Increases FY 1984 WIC authorizations. Extends administrative fund allocation provisions through 1988.

Directs the Secretary to apportion funds so as to insure that at least 70 percent of each fiscal year's amounts have been obligated or used by the beginning of such year's fourth quarter. Provides that such requirement shall not apply to supplemental appropriations enacted after January 1 of a fiscal year or to any reallocated funds.

Prohibits States from using more than two and one-half percent of a current fiscal year's WIC appropriations for a preceding year's expenditures.

Permits administrative funds to be used for technical assistance to improve State administrative systems.

Includes AFDC among the programs to be coordinated with the child nutrition programs.

Provides for a reduction in program paperwork.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct a study of the feasibility of a universal school lunch program; and (2) report to the Congress by January 1, 1988.

Extends, subject to fund availability, the alternative (cash) assistance school lunch pilot study through the school year ending June 30, 1986. Requires the Secretary, subject to fund availability and upon request, to provide financial assistance to participating school districts that sustained losses due to the methodology change for the school year ending June 30, 1983. Authorizes appropriations for such purposes.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct a study of the State administrative expense allocation formula and procedures, including the merits of a State matching requirement; and (2) report to the Congress by January 31, 1986.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct a study of the effect on families of the child nutrition programs authorized under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966; and (2) report to the Congress by January 1, 1987.

Prohibits a contract between a school food authority and a food service company to provide a la carte food service unless such company provides free and reduced price meals to eligible children.

What's happening now October 17, 1986

H.J.RES. 738 passed in Senate relating to this measure.

 Related & companion bills 2
 Committees of jurisdiction 3
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APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 7: School Lunch and Child Nutrition Amendments of 1985. 99th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/99-HR-7/
MLA
"H.R. 7: School Lunch and Child Nutrition Amendments of 1985." 99th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/99-HR-7/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 7, 99th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/99-HR-7/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 7: School Lunch and Child Nutrition Amendments of 1985](https://openamerica.io/bill/99-HR-7/)
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