{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://carson.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-carson-introduces-summer-meals-kids-act", "Congressman Carson Introduces Summer Meals for Kids Act", "2026-06-11", "2026", "2026-06", "Democrat", "House", "IN", "Andr\u00e9 Carson", "C001072", "carson.house.gov", "carson", "https://carson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC\u2014Today, Congressman Andr\u00e9 Carson (IN-07) introduced the Summer Meals for Kids Act to ensure every state opts in to the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) program, which is designed to provide food aid to kids during the summer months.\n\nEach summer, millions of children across the U.S. face hunger when school meals are no longer available. Summer EBT fills that gap, but some states \u2013 including Indiana \u2013 choose to opt-out of this federal program. The Summer Meals for Kids Act would integrate Summer EBT into the National School Lunch Program to provide critical nutrition support both during the school year and summer. An estimated 650,000 Hoosier kids are expected to miss out on summer meals in 2026 after Indiana opted out of Summer EBT.\n\n\u201cThe National School Lunch Program ensures kids are well-fed during the school year, and we need to make that same guarantee during the summer months,\u201d said Congressman Carson. \u201cSummer EBT funding is already set aside for this exact reason. It shouldn\u2019t matter what state they live in \u2013 no child should experience food insecurity. My bill is especially important as this administration\u2019s SNAP cuts are already taking effect and the cost of groceries continues to skyrocket. Families need even more help right now \u2013 and no state should needlessly cut resources.\u201d\n\nUnder Carson's bill:\n\nSummer EBT benefits would become a standard part of the National School Lunch Program during the summer months.\n\nEligible families would automatically receive benefits through electronic benefit transfer or other approved methods, ensuring uninterrupted access to nutritious food when school meals are unavailable.\n\nStates would submit administration and management plans to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure effective implementation of Summer EBT.\n\nThe current state-by-state opt-in structure for Summer EBT would be replaced with a nationwide participation stipulation tied to the National School Lunch Program.\n\n###", 1, "2026-06-27T21:44:12Z", "2026-06-27T22:11:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://carson.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-carson-introduces-summer-meals-kids-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8238946795463562, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}