Federal Policy Updates: What We Know Today

Samantha Marshall
Mar 12
4 min read

Updated: Mar 14

Updated 3/14/2025

The Senate voted to pass the Continuing Resolution today, March 14, 2025. This will stop the potential of a government shutdown when President Trump signs the bill into law, which is expected to happen. Funding will continue until September 30, 2025.

Continuing Resolution

Summary Update

Congress is working on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded past the March 14th deadline. A Continuing Resolution is a "stop gap" measure to ensure the government does continues to operate without disruption until a budget can be agreed upon through the traditional appropriations and federal budget process. Last night (Tuesday, March 11) the House voted on and signed into law H.R. 1968, which would fund the government at the current levels of federal funding until September. There are some differences between this Continuing Resolution than others, typically referred to as "clean." The high-level details of what is in the resolution can be found here.

What happens next?

Senate is to vote on Continuing Resolution prior to Friday, March 14th. If it passes through the Senate then the President has to sign it by Friday, March 14th in order to continue funding the government.

What does this mean for CACFP?

Generally, these budget processes don't fully impact CACFP funding. It is a mandatory program and is not subject to congressional negotiations to determine levels of funding during the appropriations process. CACFP is not directly impacted, as a funded program, in the Continuing Resolution.

If the Continuing Resolution is not passed and there is a government shutdown we know these two things:

In past shutdowns, USDA issued guidance that allowed payments to proceed on a temporary basis.
State agencies normally receive quarterly deposits of federal CACFP funds from USDA to disburse to the programs and sponsors in their state. Ensuring smooth continuation of fund distribution has been a priority for USDA. There should be guidance from USDA sent to states if there is a shutdown.

Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program is no Longer Available

You may remember in October of last year and then again in December, USDA was proud to announce another round of funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, a program that encourages and supports food banks and schools to purchase food from local farms and ranchers. The CACFP community was particularly excited about this funding because it was the first time dollars were allocated to child care programs participating in CACFP.

This week a "USDA spokesperson confirmed that funding...'is no longer available' (Brown, Politico, 3/10/25). Programs that were funded prior to the October announcement will be able to see their programs through until the end of their 'period of performance' (Brown, Politico, 3/10/25).

USDA FNS Update

USDA Secretary

Every administration appoints the Secretary of USDA, confirmed by Congress, who also oversees USDA FNS, the division of USDA that administers CACFP. The Trump/Vance Administration nominated Brooke Rollins and she was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in on February 13, 2025. Secretary Rollins has outlined her vision/guiding principles for the 16 nutrition programs USDA FNS oversees, which includes CACFP. You can view those here.

There will also be an Undersecretary appointed to work with Secretary Rollins and oftentimes, this is the position that we see CACFP community interaction, listening, and guidance. We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

Status of Probationary Employees

While we are unsure of the direct impact to CACFP of the employees who were terminated at the USDA, on March 5th, there was "a 45-day stay on termination of...probationary employees" and there will be a "phased plan for return-to-duty" (USDA, 3/11/25).

Anticipated Reintroduction of CACFP Bills

CACFP Roundtable is working with our national partners and congressional champions to reintroduce the four CACFP bills we had in play during the last session of Congress. A reminder of what was in the bills, the Child Care Nutrition Enhancement Act and the Early Childhood Nutrition Improvement Act in both the Senate and House for 2023-2024. The good work we did to get support for these bills in the last session mattered as we engage with the 119th Congress. If you are an organization and would like to show your support for the upcoming bills championed by Representative Bonamici (D-OR), Representative Landsman (D-OH), and Senator Blumenthal (D-CT), please email me and I will send you the information, Samantha@cacfproundtable.org.

CACFP Roundtable Member Meeting

Join us on March 26th during our CACFP Roundtable meeting! We'll be providing further context/updates and providing space for you to engage with your CACFP community to vent, strategize, and ask questions. CDSS CACFP Branch will join us for the second half to provide updates as well. Not a member yet, try it out, love it, and join.

Members: Free

Non-members: $25.00

CACFP Week

CACFP week is a fabulous time to talk about the benefits of CACFP with your Representatives, on social media, with parents, and the community at large! Why do you operate the CACFP - share with us! samantha@cacfproundtable.org.

Check out the resources from the National CACFP Sponsors Association.

Did you see that we're hiring? Looking for a consultant to team up with the CACFP Roundtable team to keep moving this important work forward! Learn more here.

It's open! Submit your proposal to share your expertise with our CACFP community in October taking place in beautiful Monterey Bay, CA. Learn more here.