Enhancing Child Health with Automatic School Meal Enrollment Act of 2009
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (text of measure as introduced: CR S6811-6812)
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 18, 2009
Enhancing Child Health with Automatic School Meal Enrollment Act of 2009 - Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make performance awards to states that demonstrate outstanding performance or show substantial improvement in directly certifying children whose families are eligible for supplemental nutrition assistance under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 as eligible for free meals under the school lunch and breakfast programs. (Direct certification eliminates the need for such families to submit applications for participation in the school lunch and breakfast programs.)
Requires each state that directly certifies less than 95% of their children who are eligible for direct certification to implement a direct certification improvement plan that is approved by the Secretary.
Directs the Secretary of Education to report to Congress on how statewide databases used to track compliance with the requirements of the school improvement program under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 can be used for the purposes of direct certification.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze S.1293 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine S.1293 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine S.1293 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine S.1293 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.