Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3719 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require that supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits be calculated using the value of the low-cost food plan, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 13, 2020 Ms. HARRIS (for herself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Ag- riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require that supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits be calculated using the value of the low-cost food plan, 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 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3719 IS SEC. 2. CALCULATION OF PROGRAM BENEFITS USING LOW- 1 COST FOOD PLAN. 2 (a) DEFINITION OF LOW-COST FOOD PLAN.—Sec- 3 tion 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 4 2012) is amended— 5 (1) by striking subsection (u); 6 (2) by redesignating subsections (n) through (t) 7 as subsections (o) through (u), respectively; and 8 (3) by inserting after subsection (m) the fol- 9 lowing: 10 ‘‘(n) LOW-COST FOOD PLAN.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘low-cost food 12 plan’ means the diet, determined in accordance with 13 the calculations of the Secretary, required to feed a 14 4-person family that consists of— 15 ‘‘(A) a man and a woman who are each be- 16 tween 19 and 50 years of age; 17 ‘‘(B) a child who is between 6 and 8 years 18 of age; and 19 ‘‘(C) a child who is between 9 and 11 20 years of age. 21 ‘‘(2) COST.—For purposes of paragraph (1), 22 the cost of the diet described in that paragraph shall 23 be the basis for uniform allotments for all house- 24 holds regardless of the actual composition of the 25 household, except that the Secretary shall— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3719 IS ‘‘(A) make household-size adjustments 1 (based on the unrounded cost of that diet) tak- 2 ing into account economies of scale; 3 ‘‘(B) make cost adjustments in the low- 4 cost food plan for the State of Hawaii and the 5 urban and rural parts of the State of Alaska to 6 reflect the cost of food in Hawaii and urban 7 and rural Alaska, respectively; 8 ‘‘(C) make cost adjustments in the sepa- 9 rate low-cost food plans for Guam, the Com- 10 monwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, 11 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 12 lands, and the United States Virgin Islands, to 13 reflect the cost of food in those territories, but 14 not to exceed the cost of food in the 50 States 15 and the District of Columbia; and 16 ‘‘(D) on October 1, 2020, and each Octo- 17 ber 1 thereafter, adjust the cost of the diet to 18 reflect the cost of the diet in the immediately 19 preceding June, and round the result to the 20 nearest lower-dollar increment for each house- 21 hold size.’’. 22 (b) VALUE OF ALLOTMENT.—Section 8(a) of the 23 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2017(a)) is 24 amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3719 IS (1) by striking ‘‘thrifty food plan’’ each place it 1 appears and inserting ‘‘low-cost food plan’’; and 2 (2) in the proviso, by striking ‘‘8 percent’’ and 3 inserting ‘‘10 percent’’. 4 (c) QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM.—Section 5 16(c)(1)(A)(ii) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 6 U.S.C. 2025(c)(1)(A)(ii)) is amended— 7 (1) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘2014, at an 8 amount not greater than $37’’ and inserting ‘‘2019, 9 at an amount equal to not more than $50’’; and 10 (2) in subclause (II)— 11 (A) by striking ‘‘thrifty food plan is ad- 12 justed under section 3(u)(4)’’ and inserting 13 ‘‘low-cost food plan is adjusted under section 14 3(n)(2)(D)’’; and 15 (B) by striking ‘‘2013’’ and inserting 16 ‘‘2019’’. 17 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 18 (1) Section 10 of the Food and Nutrition Act 19 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2019) is amended, in the first 20 sentence, by striking ‘‘3(o)(4)’’ and inserting 21 ‘‘3(p)(4)’’. 22 (2) Section 11 of the Food and Nutrition Act 23 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020) is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3719 IS (A) in subsection (a)(2), by striking 1 ‘‘3(s)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘3(t)(1)’’; 2 (B) in subsection (d)— 3 (i) by striking ‘‘3(s)(1)’’ each place it 4 appears and inserting ‘‘3(t)(1)’’; 5 (ii) by striking ‘‘3(s)(2)’’ each place it 6 appears and inserting ‘‘3(t)(2)’’; and 7 (iii) by striking ‘‘Act (25 U.S.C. 8 450)’’ and inserting ‘‘and Education As- 9 sistance Act (25 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.)’’; 10 and 11 (C) in subsection (e)(17), by striking 12 ‘‘3(s)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘3(t)(1)’’. 13 (3) Section 19(a)(2)(A)(ii) of the Food and Nu- 14 trition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2028(a)(2)(A)(ii)) is 15 amended by striking ‘‘thrifty food plan has been ad- 16 justed under section 3(u)(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘low- 17 cost food plan has been adjusted under section 18 3(n)(2)(D)’’. 19 (4) Section 27(a)(2) of the Food and Nutrition 20 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2036(a)(2)) is amended, in 21 subparagraphs (C) and (E), by striking ‘‘thrifty food 22 plan has been adjusted under section 3(u)(4)’’ each 23 place it appears and inserting ‘‘low-cost food plan 24 has been adjusted under section 3(n)(2)(D)’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3719 IS (5) Section 408(a)(12)(B)(i) of the Social Secu- 1 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 608(a)(12)(B)(i)) is amended by 2 striking ‘‘(r)’’ each place it appears. 3 SEC. 3. DEDUCTIONS FROM INCOME. 4 (a) STANDARD MEDICAL EXPENSE DEDUCTION.— 5 Section 5(e)(5) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 6 (7 U.S.C. 2014(e)(5)) is amended— 7 (1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘EX- 8 CESS MEDICAL’’ and inserting ‘‘MEDICAL’’; 9 (2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘an excess 10 medical’’ and all that follows through the period at 11 the end and inserting ‘‘a standard medical deduction 12 or a medical expense deduction of actual costs for 13 the allowable medical expenses incurred by the elder- 14 ly or disabled member, exclusive of special diets.’’; 15 (3) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking ‘‘ex- 16 cess’’; and 17 (4) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(D) STANDARD MEDICAL EXPENSE DE- 19 DUCTION AMOUNT.— 20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro- 21 vided in clause (ii), the standard medical 22 expense deduction shall be— 23 ‘‘(I) for fiscal year 2020, $140; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3719 IS ‘‘(II) for each subsequent fiscal 1 year, equal to the applicable amount 2 for the immediately preceding fiscal 3 year as adjusted to reflect changes for 4 the 12-month period ending the pre- 5 ceding June 30 in the Consumer Price 6 Index for All Urban Consumers: Med- 7 ical Care published by the Bureau of 8 Labor Statistics of the Department of 9 Labor. 10 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—For any fiscal 11 year, a State agency may establish a great- 12 er standard medical expense deduction 13 than described in clause (i) if the greater 14 deduction satisfies cost neutrality stand- 15 ards established by the Secretary for that 16 fiscal year.’’. 17 (b) ELIMINATION OF CAP OF EXCESS SHELTER EX- 18 PENSES.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 5(e)(6) of the Food 20 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014(e)(6)) is 21 amended— 22 (A) by striking subparagraph (B); and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3719 IS (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) 1 and (D) as subparagraphs (B) and (C), respec- 2 tively. 3 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 4 2605(f)(2)(A) of the Low-Income Home Energy As- 5 sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624(f)(2)(A)) is 6 amended by striking ‘‘5(e)(6)(C)(iv)(I) of that Act 7 (7 U.S.C. 2014(e)(6)(C)(iv)(I))’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘5(e)(6)(B)(iv)(I) of that Act (7 U.S.C. 9 2014(e)(6)(B)(iv)(I))’’. 10 SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF TIME LIMIT. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6 of the Food and Nutri- 12 tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015) is amended— 13 (1) by striking subsection (o); and 14 (2) by redesignating subsections (p) through (s) 15 as subsections (o) through (r), respectively. 16 (b) ADDITIONAL ALLOCATIONS FOR STATES THAT 17 ENSURE AVAILABILITY OF WORK OPPORTUNITIES.—Sec- 18 tion 16(h) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 19 U.S.C. 2025(h)) is amended— 20 (1) in paragraph (1)— 21 (A) in subparagraph (C)(iv)(I)— 22 (i) by striking ‘‘(F)(viii)’’ each place it 23 appears and inserting ‘‘(E)(viii)’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3719 IS (ii) by striking ‘‘(F)(vii)(I)’’ each 1 place it appears and inserting 2 ‘‘(E)(vii)(I)’’; 3 (iii) in item (bb)(BB), by striking 4 ‘‘(F)(vii)(II)’’ and inserting ‘‘(E)(vii)(II)’’; 5 and 6 (iv) in item (cc), by striking ‘‘(F)(vii)’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘(E)(vii)’’; 8 (B) by striking subparagraph (E); and 9 (C) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as 10 subparagraph (E); 11 (2) in paragraphs (3) and (4), by striking 12 ‘‘(1)(F)’’ each place it appears and inserting 13 ‘‘(1)(E)’’; and 14 (3) in paragraph (5)(C)— 15 (A) in clause (ii), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 16 end; 17 (B) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 18 inserting a period; and 19 (C) by striking clause (iv). 20 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 21 (1) Section 5 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 22 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is amended— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3719 IS (A) in subsection (a), in the second sen- 1 tence, by striking ‘‘(r)’’ and inserting ‘‘(q)’’; 2 and 3 (B) in subsection (g)(3), in the first sen- 4 tence, by striking ‘‘16(h)(1)(F)’’ and inserting 5 ‘‘16(h)(1)(E)’’. 6 (2) Section 6(d)(4) of the Food and Nutrition 7 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2015(d)(4)) is amended— 8 (A) in subparagraph (B)(ii)(I)(bb)(DD), 9 by striking ‘‘or subsection (o)’’; and 10 (B) in subparagraph (N), by striking ‘‘or 11 subsection (o)’’ each place it appears. 12 (3) Section 7(i)(1) of the Food and Nutrition 13 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2016(i)(1)) is amended by 14 striking ‘‘section 6(o)(2) of this Act or’’. 15 (4) Section 16(h)(1) of the Food and Nutrition 16 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2025(h)) is amended— 17 (A) in subparagraph (B), in the matter 18 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘that—’’ and 19 all that follows through the period at the end 20 of clause (ii) and inserting ‘‘that is determined 21 and adjusted by the Secretary.’’; and 22 (B) in clause (ii)(III)(ee)(AA) of subpara- 23 graph (E) (as redesignated by subsection 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 3719 IS (b)(1)(C)), by striking ‘‘, individuals subject to 1 the requirements under section 6(o),’’. 2 (5) Section 51(d)(8)(A)(ii) of the Internal Rev- 3 enue Code of 1986 is amended— 4 (A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘, or’’ at 5 the end and inserting a period; 6 (B) in the matter preceding subclause (I), 7 by striking ‘‘family—’’ and all that follows 8 through ‘‘receiving’’ in subclause (I) and insert- 9 ing ‘‘family receiving’’; and 10 (C) by striking subclause (II). 11 (6) Section 103(a)(2) of the Workforce Innova- 12 tion and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3113) is 13 amended— 14 (A) by striking subparagraph (D); and 15 (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (E) 16 through (K) as subparagraphs (D) through (J), 17 respectively. 18 (7) Section 121(b)(2)(B) of the Workforce In- 19 novation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3151) is 20 amended— 21 (A) by striking clause (iv); and 22 (B) by redesignating clauses (v) through 23 (vii) as clauses (iv) through (vi), respectively. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 3719 IS SEC. 5. PARTICIPATION OF PUERTO RICO, AMERICAN 1 SAMOA, AND THE NORTHERN MARIANA IS- 2 LANDS IN SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION AS- 3 SISTANCE PROGRAM. 4 (a) DEFINITION OF STATE.—Subsection (s) of sec- 5 tion 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 6 2012) (as redesignated by section 2(a)(2)) is amended by 7 inserting ‘‘the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 8 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 9 lands,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’. 10 (b) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS.—Section 5 of the Food 11 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014) is amended— 12 (1) in subsection (c), in the undesignated mat- 13 ter at the end, by striking ‘‘States or Guam’’ and in- 14 serting ‘‘States, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto 15 Rico, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the 16 Northern Mariana Islands’’; and 17 (2) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(o) PUERTO RICO, AMERICAN SAMOA, AND THE 19 NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.—Notwithstanding any 20 other provision of this Act, including the requirements 21 under this section, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 22 American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 23 Mariana Islands shall each establish their own standards 24 of eligibility for participation by households in the supple- 25 mental nutrition assistance program.’’. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Jun 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3719.IS S3719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 3719 IS (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 2 subsections (a) and (b) shall be effective with re- 3 spect to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Amer- 4 ican Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 5 Mariana Islands, as applicable, on the date described 6 in paragraph (2) if the Secretary of Agriculture sub- 7 mits to Congress a certification under subsection 8 (f)(2)(B) of section 19 of the Food and Nutrition 9 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2028). 10 (2) DATE DESCRIBED.—The date referred to in 11 paragraph (1) is, with respect to the Co [Text truncated for display. 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