Making Essentials Available and Lawful (MEAL) Act of 2021
Latest action · Aug 5, 2021 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedAug 5, 2021
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Making Essentials Available and Lawful (MEAL) Act of 2021
This bill repeals a lifetime ban that prohibits individuals convicted of certain offenses related to the possession, use, or distribution of a controlled substance from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits or assistance under programs funded by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grants. Any state law that imposes conditions on eligibility for SNAP benefits or TANF assistance based on an individual's conviction of such an offense shall have no force or effect.
In addition, individuals who are incarcerated and scheduled to be released within 30 days shall qualify as individual households for purposes of SNAP eligibility. Under current law, unless specifically excepted, individuals residing in institutions do not constitute a household.
Cosponsors 8
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Aug 5, 2021.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-CA | Alex Padilla | Original | Aug 5, 2021 |
| I-VT | Bernard Sanders | Original | Aug 5, 2021 |
| D-MA | Edward J. Markey | Original | Aug 5, 2021 |
| D-NY | Kirsten E. Gillibrand | Original | Aug 5, 2021 |
| D-NM | Martin Heinrich | Original | Aug 5, 2021 |
| D-IL | Richard J. Durbin | Original | Aug 5, 2021 |
| D-WI | Tammy Baldwin | Original | Aug 5, 2021 |
| D-MN | Tina Smith | Original | Aug 5, 2021 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Aug 5, 2021Introduced in Senate
- Aug 5, 2021Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 2837 | Making Essentials Available and Lawful (MEAL) Act of 2021 | Identical bill | Jul 1, 2021 |
| HR 6492 | Climate Resilience Workforce Act | Related bill | Nov 1, 2022 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Social Welfare.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Aug 5, 2021Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.