This legislation, known as the Universal School Meals Program Act of 2026, seeks to establish a system where all children receive free school breakfasts and lunches. The Act will take effect one year after its enactment, fundamentally altering the existing framework of child nutrition programs. Its primary goal is to eliminate financial barriers to nutritious meals for students across the nation. For the School Breakfast Program, the bill amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to explicitly state that schools shall provide free breakfast to all enrolled children. It sets a national average payment of $3.28 per free breakfast, subject to annual inflation adjustments. Crucially, the bill prohibits schools from collecting any debt owed for unpaid meal charges and forbids practices like physically segregating or overtly identifying children for "breakfast shaming." Similarly, the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act is amended to ensure all children enrolled in participating schools are eligible for free lunch. A national average payment of $5.42 per free lunch is established, also subject to annual inflation adjustments. An additional payment of $0.30 per free lunch is introduced for school food authorities that source at least 25 percent of their meal ingredients from locally-sourced farm products , encouraging local food procurement. Like the breakfast program, schools are prohibited from collecting unpaid meal debt. The bill extends universal free meal eligibility to other critical child nutrition initiatives, including the Summer Food Service Program for Children, allowing all children to participate and enabling the Secretary to waive program requirements that limit access. The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children Program is also updated, setting benefit amounts and clarifying eligibility. Furthermore, the Child and Adult Care Food Program and afterschool meal programs are revised to provide all meals and supplements for free to participants, with corresponding reimbursement rate adjustments. A significant provision establishes a program to reimburse schools for all delinquent meal debt accrued before the Act's effective date, ensuring schools are not financially penalized for past unpaid charges. The legislation also redefines how "economically disadvantaged students" are identified for various federal programs, moving away from reliance on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. Instead, it proposes using a new template survey or direct certification data, with strict privacy protections for individual student information. Finally, the Act includes numerous conforming amendments across various federal laws, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Higher Education Act of 1965, and Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. These amendments remove references to "reduced price" meals and align eligibility criteria with the new universal free meal standard, ensuring consistency and broad implementation of the bill's objectives across related governmental programs.