Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1368 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require that supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits be calculated with reference to the cost of the low-cost food plan as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 26, 2019 Ms. ADAMS (for herself, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mrs. WATSON COLE- MAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. WELCH, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. MOORE, Ms. SCHA- KOWSKY, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. EVANS, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. KILMER, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsyl- vania, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. RUSH, Mr. COHEN, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. OMAR, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. PETERS, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. POCAN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. TONKO, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. HECK, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. ROUDA, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. NAD- LER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. RYAN, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. CAS- TRO of Texas, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. BASS, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. NEAL, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. KEATING, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. MCNERNEY, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. COX of California, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, and Mr. CRIST) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1368 IH A BILL To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require that supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits be calculated with reference to the cost of the low-cost food plan as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Closing the Meal Gap 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 6 (a) CALCULATION OF PROGRAM BENEFITS.—The 7 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) 8 is amended— 9 (1) in section 3 (7 U.S.C. 2012)— 10 (A) by striking subsection (u), 11 (B) by redesignating subsections (n) 12 through (t) as subsections (o) through (u), re- 13 spectively, and 14 (C) by inserting after subsection (m) the 15 following: 16 ‘‘(n) ‘Low-cost food plan’ means the diet required to 17 feed a family of four persons, consisting of a man and 18 a woman nineteen through fifty, a child six through eight, 19 and a child nine through eleven years of age, determined 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1368 IH in accordance with the Secretary’s calculations. The cost 1 of such diet shall be the basis for uniform allotments for 2 all households regardless of their actual composition, ex- 3 cept that the Secretary shall— 4 ‘‘(1) make household-size adjustments (based 5 on the unrounded cost of such diet) taking into ac- 6 count economies of scale; 7 ‘‘(2) make cost adjustments in the low-cost food 8 plan for Hawaii and the urban and rural parts of 9 Alaska to reflect the cost of food in Hawaii and 10 urban and rural Alaska; 11 ‘‘(3) make cost adjustments in the separate 12 low-cost food plans for Guam, and the Virgin Is- 13 lands of the United States, to reflect the cost of food 14 in those States, but not to exceed the cost of food 15 in the 50 States and the District of Columbia; and 16 ‘‘(4) on October 1, 2019, and each October 1 17 thereafter, adjust the cost of the diet to reflect the 18 cost of the diet in the immediately preceding June, 19 and round the result to the nearest lower dollar in- 20 crement for each household size.’’, 21 (2) in section 8(a) (7 U.S.C. 2017(a))— 22 (A) by striking ‘‘thrifty food plan’’ each 23 place it appears, and inserting ‘‘low-cost food 24 plan’’, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1368 IH (B) by striking ‘‘8 percent’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘10 percent’’, 2 (3) in section 16(c)(1)(A)(ii) (7 U.S.C. 3 2025(c)(1)(A)(ii))— 4 (A) in subclause (I) by striking ‘‘for fiscal 5 year 2014, at an amount not greater than $37’’ 6 and inserting ‘‘for fiscal year 2019, at an 7 amount not greater than $50’’, and 8 (B) in subclause (II)— 9 (i) by striking ‘‘June 30, 2013’’ and 10 inserting ‘‘June 30, 2019’’, and 11 (ii) by striking ‘‘thrifty food plan’’ 12 and inserting ‘‘low-cost food plan’’, and 13 (4) in section 19(a)(2)(A) (7 U.S.C. 14 2028(a)(2)(A))— 15 (A) in clause (i) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 16 end, 17 (B) in clause (ii)— 18 (i) by striking ‘‘each fiscal year there- 19 after’’ and inserting ‘‘each of the fiscal 20 years 2004 through 2019’’, and 21 (ii) by striking the period at the end 22 and inserting a semicolon, and 23 (C) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1368 IH ‘‘(iii) for fiscal year 2020, 1 $2,650,000,000; and 2 ‘‘(iv) subject to the availability of ap- 3 propriations under section 18(a), for each 4 fiscal year thereafter, the amount deter- 5 mined under clause (iii), as adjusted by the 6 percentage by which the low-cost food plan 7 has been adjusted under section 3(n)(4) 8 between June 30, 2019, and June 30 of 9 the immediately preceding fiscal year.’’. 10 (b) STANDARD MEDICAL EXPENSE DEDUCTION.— 11 Section 5(e)(5) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 12 (7 U.S.C. 2014(e)(5)) is amended— 13 (1) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘an excess 14 medical’’ and all that follows through the period at 15 the end, and inserting ‘‘a standard medical deduc- 16 tion or to a medical expense deduction of actual 17 costs for the allowable medical expenses incurred by 18 the elderly or disabled member, exclusive of special 19 diets.’’, and 20 (2) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(D) The standard medical expense deduc- 22 tion shall be equal to $140 for fiscal year 2020, 23 and for each subsequent fiscal year shall be 24 equal to the applicable amount for the imme- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1368 IH diately preceding fiscal year as adjusted to re- 1 flect changes for the 12-month period ending 2 the preceding June 30 in the Consumer Price 3 Index for All Urban Consumers: Medical Care 4 published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of 5 the Department of Labor, except that for any 6 such fiscal year the State agency may establish 7 a greater standard medical expense deduction 8 that satisfies cost neutrality standards estab- 9 lished by the Secretary for such fiscal year.’’. 10 (c) ELIMINATION OF CAP OF EXCESS SHELTER EX- 11 PENSES.—Section 5(e)(6) of the Food and Nutrition Act 12 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014(e)(6)) is amended— 13 (1) by striking subparagraph (B), and 14 (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and 15 (D) as subparagraphs (B) and (C), respectively. 16 (d) SNAP ELIGIBILITY FOR FULL AND PART-TIME 17 STUDENTS; STUDENTS’ RESPONSIBLE FOR CARE OF DIS- 18 ABLED MEMBERS OF HOUSEHOLDS.—Section 6 of the 19 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015) is 20 amended— 21 (1) by striking subsection (e); and 22 (2) in subsection (d)(2)(C) by striking ‘‘(except 23 that any such person enrolled in an institution of 24 higher education shall be ineligible to participate in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1368 IH the supplemental nutrition assistance program un- 1 less he or she meets the requirements of subsection 2 (e) of this section)’’. 3 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 4 (1) FOOD AND NUTRITION ACT OF 2008.—The 5 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et 6 seq.) is amended— 7 (A) in section 10 (7 U.S.C. 2019) by strik- 8 ing ‘‘3(o)(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘3(p)(4)’’, 9 (B) in section 11 (7 U.S.C. 2012)— 10 (i) in subsection (a)(2) by striking 11 ‘‘3(s)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘3(t)(1)’’, and 12 (ii) in subsection (d)— 13 (I) by striking ‘‘3(s)(1)’’ each 14 place it appears and inserting 15 ‘‘3(t)(1)’’, and 16 (II) by striking ‘‘3(s)(2)’’ each 17 place it appears and inserting 18 ‘‘3(t)(2)’’, 19 (C) in section 19(a)(2)(A)(ii) (7 U.S.C. 20 (a)(2)(A)(ii)) by striking ‘‘3(u)(4)’’ and insert- 21 ing ‘‘3(n)(4)’’, and 22 (D) in section 27(a)(2) (7 U.S.C. 23 2036(a)(2))— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 1368 IH (i) in subparagraph (C) by striking 1 ‘‘3(u)(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘3(n)(4)’’, and 2 (ii) in subparagraph (E) by striking 3 ‘‘3(u)(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘3(n)(4)’’. 4 (2) LOW-INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE 5 ACT OF 1981.—Section 2605(f)(2)(A) of the Low-In- 6 come Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (42 7 U.S.C. 8624(f)(2)(A)) is amended— 8 (A) by striking ‘‘5(e)(6)(C)(iv)(I)’’ and in- 9 serting ‘‘5(e)(6)(B)(iv)(1)’’, and 10 (B) by striking ‘‘(7 U.S.C. 11 2014(e)(6)(C)(iv)(I))’’ and inserting ‘‘(7 U.S.C. 12 2014(e)(6)(B)(iv)(I))’’. 13 (f) TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.—The Food and Nu- 14 trition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) is amended— 15 (1) in section 5(a) (7 U.S.C. 2014(a)) by strik- 16 ing ‘‘3(n)(4)’’ each place it appears and inserting 17 ‘‘3(m)(4)’’, 18 (2) in section 8(f)(1)(A)(i) (7 U.S.C. 19 2017(f)(1)(A)(i)) by striking ‘‘3(n)(5)’’ and inserting 20 ‘‘3(m)(5)’’, and 21 (3) in section 17(b)(1)(B)(iv)(III)(aa) (7 U.S.C. 22 2016(b)(1)(B)(iv)(III)(aa)) by striking ‘‘3(n)’’ and 23 inserting ‘‘3(m)’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 1368 IH SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS. 1 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in sub- 2 section (b), this Act and the amendments made by this 3 Act shall take effect on October 1, 2019. 4 (b) APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.—The amend- 5 ments made by subsections (b), (c), and (f)(2) shall not 6 apply with respect to certification periods that begin be- 7 fore October 1, 2019. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1368.IH H1368 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS