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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
How SNAP federal funding cuts could change free lunch at Knox County Schools
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law July 4, 2025, paving the way for sweeping federal budget cuts, including to SNAP, commonly known as food stamps. As a result, free and reduced-price school lunches could become more difficult for families to access. Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will amount to around $300 billion through 2034, according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. As of June, 34,268 people in Knox County rely on the program for a regular stipend to use for groceries, according to Tennessee Department of Human Services data. SNAP is a way kids get access to free and reduced-price school meals through the National School Lunch Program. SNAP is part of why 63 Knox County schools can offer every student free breakfast and lunch During the 2025-26 academic year, every student at 63 Knox County schools can receive free breakfast and lunch through the Community Eligibility Provision, which gives all students at a designated school two free meals regardless of family income and without collecting individual applications. The provision uses data from federal benefit programs, including SNAP, to determine the rate of students already receiving assistance. For a school to qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision, at least 25% of students have receive government assistance by April 1 of the prior school year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the National School Lunch Program. With fewer families receiving SNAP benefits, the number of schools that provide meals through the Community Eligibility Provision could drop next school year along with the identified student percentage. If a school were no longer covered through the Community Eligibility Provision, some students would continue to qualify individually for free and reduced-price lunch, but the benefit would not be extended to all. How to apply for free school lunch in Knox County If you child's school doesn't automatically offer free meals, families can apply for help. "Free and reduced meal applications will be available all school year, based on the information we have currently," Knox County School spokesperson Carly Harrington told Knox News. Families can submit a an application anytime during the school year to see if they qualify. Applications should be submitted annually, and only one application is needed for all students in a household. Other ways children in Knox County can receive food Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee's Food for Kids program helps to fill the weekend gap when children can't get meals at school. Every Friday, students are given a bag filled with foods that are easy to access and prepare. Teachers at individual schools help identify students who could benefit from Food for Kids, which operates around the region, including in 76 Knox County Schools facilities for the 2025-26 school year, Second Harvest's chief marketing officer Michael Torano told Knox News in an email. Hayden Dunbar is the storyteller reporter. Email Support strong local journalism by subscribing at This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: SNAP funding cuts could mean fewer Knox County students get free lunch Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Senate approves more than $180 billion in 2026 funding before August recess
The Senate on Friday passed its first tranche of government funding bills for fiscal year 2026 ahead of its upcoming August recess, but Congress is bracing for a potentially messy fight to prevent a shutdown when they return in September. The chamber approved three bills that provide more than $180 billion in discretionary funding for the departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), military construction, legislative branch operations and rural development. The bills passed in two parts: on an 87-9 vote for military construction, VA, agriculture and FDA funding; and an 81-15 vote for legislative branch funding. The votes cap off days of uncertainty over whether the Senate would be joining the House on a monthlong recess with any of its 12 annual funding bills passed out of the chamber. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), who heads the subcommittee that crafted the full-year VA funding bill, said Friday that he sees the first batch of bills as more of a 'test run.' 'It's just been so long since we've done our appropriations bills. A lot of people just [forgot] the procedures,' he told The Hill, noting that in the previous congressional session senators 'really didn't do bills.' Appropriators say the vote marks the first time since 2018 that the Senate has passed funding legislation before the August recess. 'It's really a matter of just kind of legislating again, and the more we do it, the easier, the easier it'll be as we go back,' Boozman said. In the past week, senators had gone through several iterations of their first funding package of the year, as leaders on both sides worked through frustrations in their ranks over proposed spending levels and actions by the Trump administration that incensed Democrats. Well over half of the funding approved Friday is included in the annual VA and military construction bill, which calls for upwards of $153 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal 2026. That includes about $133 billion for the VA and roughly $20 billion for the Department of Defense military construction program. More than $113 billion in discretionary funding would go toward VA medical care. The annual agricultural funding plan calls for $27 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal 2026. It includes $8.2 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), about $7 billion in funding for the Food and Drug Administration, roughly $1.7 billion for rental assistance, and nearly $1.23 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Democrats have also highlighted $240 million in funding in the bill for the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, which was targeted in President Trump's latest budget request. The annual legislative branch funding plan calls for about $7 billion for House and Senate operations, the U.S. Capitol Police and agencies like the Library of Congress (LOC), the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and the Architect of the Capitol. Capitol Police would see a boost under the plan, along with the CBO, while funding for the LOC, the CRS and the GAO would be kept at fiscal 2025 levels. Lawmakers also agreed to $44.5 million in emergency funds aimed at beefing up security and member protection, citing safety concerns following the shootings of Minnesota lawmakers earlier this year. Republicans had previously been uncertain about whether the third bill would be passed as part of the package this week until Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a senior appropriator, said a deal was worked out to allow him to vote on the measure separately from the other bills. Kennedy has criticized the legislative branch funding bill for its proposed spending levels. 'It just doesn't seem appropriate for us to be spending that much extra while everybody else has to take a cut,' he told reporters in late July. 'Now, some of my colleagues point out, yes, but the extra spending is for member security.' 'If you're going to spend extra money on member security, find a pay-for within the bill. I just think the optics are terrible and the policy is terrible,' he said. 'We ought to hold ourselves to the same standard we're holding everybody else, and that's why I'm going to vote no.' Republicans also blame Sen. Chris Van Hollen's (D-Md.) resistance to the Trump administration's relocation plans for the FBI's headquarters for weighing down efforts to pass the annual Justice Department funding bill. Senators had initially expected that bill, which also funds the Commerce Department and science-related agencies, to be part of the package until those plans fell apart earlier this week amid a clash over Trump administration plans to relocate the FBI headquarters. Speaking from the Senate floor on Thursday, Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that crafted the annual funding deal, said he had been pushing for an amendment aimed at ensuring the FBI would 'have a level 5 security headquarters.' He noted his previous attempt during committee consideration that temporarily led to the adoption of an amendment to the DOJ funding bill that sought to block President Trump's plans to keep the FBI's headquarters in Washington, D.C. However, the change was later scrapped after staunch GOP opposition threatened to tank the bill. 'It didn't happen because members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Republicans and Democrats, didn't think that was the right thing to do – to preserve what we had set out before and make sure that the men and women [of the FBI] have a level 5 security headquarters,' he said. 'We did it because the President of the United States was going to throw a fit if that provision stayed on.' Van Hollen said he hopes the bill will be able to 'get back on track' in September. However, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), chair of the subcommittee alongside Van Hollen, offered a rather gloomy outlook for the bill's next steps after recess. He argued much of the focus in September is likely to be on getting a deal on a funding stopgap, also known as a continuing resolution (CR), to keep the government funded beyond the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline. 'When we get back from recess, we'll move to working on the CR to get us so I would guess if the CJS has a path, it's probably just the CR and will continue,' Moran said. 'All the work that we've done goes away, and we'll go back to CR and fund those agencies at the same level and same way that we did last year.' 'Every time we say we want to do appropriation bills, then there's someone who has a reason that, 'Not this time,' 'Not this one,' 'Not – because I didn't get what I want,'' he said. 'And this time we're arguing over an amendment that was allowed to the senator who's objecting, but he wanted a commitment that he get the outcome he wants.' 'And he didn't win in committee, and he wouldn't win on the Senate floor, but he can, I wouldn't think, but he can make his case. But he rejected that option,' he said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Senate GOP quietly urges House to shift approach on shutdown talk
Senate Republicans say President Trump has made it clear he doesn't want a government shutdown, and they're urging House GOP lawmakers to tone down their approach to the Sept. 30 funding deadline. House Republicans jammed Senate Democrats in March with a partisan funding bill, which Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) reluctantly voted for to avoid a shutdown. But the political dynamics are different now. Schumer is under heavy pressure to fight harder against Trump and his MAGA allies, heightening the chance of a shutdown if Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) tries to use the same playbook. 'I know that our side won't want a shutdown. Trump hates that, and rightly so,' said a Republican senator, who requested anonymity to discuss conversations with the White House. The senator said 'the fate of the approps bills' to fund the government in fiscal 2026 will be the focus of the GOP conference before it leaves for a four-week August recess. A second Republican senator who requested anonymity said Trump, who dined with Senate Republicans at the White House recently to celebrate the passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, has made it clear to his allies on Capitol Hill that he wants to avoid a shutdown in the fall. The president is focused on landing trade deals and touting the accomplishments included in the massive tax and spending package Congress passed before July 4. This is a big reason why Senate Republicans have sought common ground with Democrats on the annual appropriations bills, hoping to put behind them the bruising partisan battles over the reconciliation bill and a measure that clawed back $9 billion in funding for PBS, NPR and global aid. The senator said higher spending levels in the Senate appropriations bills offer a 'better path' to avoiding a government shutdown in the fall because they are less likely to provoke opposition from Democrats. The Senate's Interior and Environment appropriations bill for 2026, for example, provides $41.45 billion in total funding, including $3.27 billion for the National Park Service and $6.17 billion for the Forest Service. It passed out of committee with overwhelming bipartisan support, 26-2. The House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies bill, by comparison, provides $38 billion in funding, which is $2.9 billion below the level enacted in 2025. It also includes 72 controversial policy riders that would restrict the issuance of rules to protect sage grouse, prohibit the implementation of an updated public lands rule and dictate the timing of offshore and onshore fossil-fuel extraction leases. The House measure passed out of committee on a partisan 33-28 vote. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, complained last week that bipartisanship has been 'thwarted' on the House side. 'It's not a negotiation,' she said, arguing the legislation being drafted by Republican House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (Okla.) 'does not look to being bipartisan in a way that both Democrats and Republicans can come together.' Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) says Senate Republicans want to avoid a last-minutes standoff with Democrats over funding that could threaten a shutdown. The Senate GOP leader warned in an interview with the 'Ruthless' podcast that Schumer is unlikely to swallow a partisan funding deal sent over from the House shortly before the Sept. 30 deadline, noting the Democratic leader 'got just blown up' for voting for the partisan, yearlong funding bill the House passed in March. 'I think [Democrats are] going to be under an enormous amount of pressure come fall, which is why … we need to do everything we can — House Republicans, Senate Republicans, President Trump and his team — to … set it up for success, to keep the government up and funded,' Thune said. 'And then … Chuck Schumer … what's he going to do? Is he going to bow to the Democratic base, or do the responsible thing and keep the government open? That's the decision,' he added. A Democratic senator who requested anonymity to comment on discussions within the Democratic caucus said Schumer is coming under heavy pressure from liberal colleagues to insist on a bipartisan funding stopgap. And they're urging him to reject any partisan funding measure akin to what the House jammed the Senate with in March. 'We all want to pursue a bipartisan, bicameral appropriations process. That's how it's always been done successfully, and we believe that should happen. However, the Republicans are making it extremely difficult to do that,' Schumer told reporters after meeting with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) last week to discuss strategy. Asked what he would do if the House sent another partisan continuing resolution to the Senate shortly before the funding deadline, Schumer said: 'We're for a bipartisan, bicameral bill. That's what's always been done. The onus is on the Republicans to make that happen.' Senate Republicans have heard that message loud and clear, and they want to avoid sticking Trump with a shutdown in the fall. An element of the Senate Republican strategy is to pass several of the regular appropriations bills for fiscal 2026 before the end of September to promote a sense of optimism that Republicans and Democrats can work together to fund the government. GOP senators hope that, in turn, would reduce the temptation for the House to simply send to the Senate a stopgap funding measure that cuts deeply into Democratic priorities, as Johnson did in March, and dare Schumer to shut down the government. By passing a few spending bills this week or in early September, Senate negotiators would be in a better position to insist that House GOP leaders meet them halfway. The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday, 90-8, to proceed with its version of the military construction and Department of Veterans Affairs appropriations bills. Thune is trying to attach to that measure a bill funding the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration and another funding the departments of Commerce and Justice, science programs and NASA. Thune tried to attach the legislative branch appropriations bill to the package but Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) objected, insisting on the measure getting a stand-alone vote. The Senate will resume voting on nominees Monday while Thune attempts to get all 99 other senators to sign off on a time agreement for expanding the appropriations package beyond military construction and Veterans Affairs. 'We want to get as many bills considered in this tranche as possible,' Thune told reporters last week. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
