H.R.5915

            I 

116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION H. R. 5915 

To amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation 
Act of 1996 to repeal a certain disqualification to receive benefits under 
title IV of the Social Security Act and benefits under the Food and 
Nutrition Act of 2008; and to amend the Food and Nutrition Act 
of 2008 to provide that incarcerated individuals who are scheduled to 
be released from an institution within 30 days shall be considered to 
be a household for purposes of such Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2020 
Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. RUSH, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, 

Ms. ADAMS, and Ms. BARRAGÁN) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 
To amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 

Reconciliation Act of 1996 to repeal a certain disquali-
fication to receive benefits under title IV of the Social 
Security Act and benefits under the Food and Nutrition 
Act of 2008; and to amend the Food and Nutrition 
Act of 2008 to provide that incarcerated individuals who 
are scheduled to be released from an institution within 
30 days shall be considered to be a household for pur-
poses of such Act. 

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H5915.IH H5915kjo
hn

so
n 

on
 D

S
K

79
L0

C
42

P
R

O
D

 w
ith

 B
IL

LS



2 

•HR 5915 IH

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1

tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Making Essentials 4

Available and Lawful (MEAL) Act of 2020’’. 5

SEC. 2. TANF ASSISTANCE AND SNAP BENEFITS. 6

(a) REPEAL OF BAN ON ASSISTANCE.—Section 115 7

of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Rec-8

onciliation Act of 1996 (21 U.S.C. 862a) is repealed. 9

(b) EFFECT ON STATE ELECTIONS TO OPT OUT OR 10

LIMIT PERIOD OF PROHIBITION.— 11

(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 12

(A) the term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning 13

given the term in section 115(e) of the Personal 14

Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconcili-15

ation Act of 1996 (21 U.S.C. 862a(e)) (as in 16

effect on the day before the date of enactment 17

of this Act); and 18

(B) the term ‘‘TANF assistance or SNAP 19

benefits’’ means assistance or benefits referred 20

to in section 115(a) of the Personal Responsi-21

bility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act 22

of 1996 (as in effect on the day before the date 23

of enactment of this Act). 24

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5915.IH H5915kjo
hn

so
n 

on
 D

S
K

79
L0

C
42

P
R

O
D

 w
ith

 B
IL

LS



3 

•HR 5915 IH

(2) EFFECT.—A law enacted by a State under 1

the authority under subparagraph (A) or (B) of sub-2

section (d)(1) of section 115 of the Personal Respon-3

sibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 4

1996 (21 U.S.C. 862a) (as in effect on the day be-5

fore the date of enactment of this Act), and any 6

State law or regulation enacted to carry out the re-7

quirements of such section (as then in effect), that 8

imposes conditions on eligibility for TANF assist-9

ance or SNAP benefits shall have no force or effect. 10

SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF HOUSEHOLD 11

FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING SNAP 12

BENEFITS. 13

Section 3(m)(5) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 14

2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(m)(5)) is amended by adding at the 15

end the following: 16

‘‘(H) Incarcerated individuals are who 17

scheduled to be released from an institution 18

within 30 days.’’. 19

Æ 

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5915.IH H5915kjo
hn

so
n 

on
 D

S
K

79
L0

C
42

P
R

O
D

 w
ith

 B
IL

LS


<<
  /ASCII85EncodePages false
  /AllowTransparency false
  /AutoPositionEPSFiles true
  /AutoRotatePages /None
  /Binding /Left
  /CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%)
  /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
  /CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2)
  /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
  /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Error
  /CompatibilityLevel 1.4
  /CompressObjects /Off
  /CompressPages true
  /ConvertImagesToIndexed true
  /PassThroughJPEGImages true
  /CreateJobTicket false
  /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default
  /DetectBlends true
  /DetectCurves 0.0000
  /ColorConversionStrategy /LeaveColorUnchanged
  /DoThumbnails false
  /EmbedAllFonts true
  /EmbedOpenType false
  /ParseICCProfilesInComments true
  /EmbedJobOptions true
  /DSCReportingLevel 0
  /EmitDSCWarnings false
  /EndPage -1
  /ImageMemory 1048576
  /LockDistillerParams true
  /MaxSubsetPct 100
  /Optimize false
  /OPM 1
  /ParseDSCComments true
  /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true
  /PreserveCopyPage true
  /PreserveDICMYKValues true
  /PreserveEPSInfo true
  /PreserveFlatness true
  /PreserveHalftoneInfo false
  /PreserveOPIComments true
  /PreserveOverprintSettings true
  /StartPage 1
  /SubsetFonts false
  /TransferFunctionInfo /Preserve
  /UCRandBGInfo /Preserve
  /UsePrologue true
  /ColorSettingsFile ()
  /AlwaysEmbed [ true
  ]
  /NeverEmbed [ true
  ]
  /AntiAliasColorImages false
  /CropColorImages true
  /ColorImageMinResolution 300
  /ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /DownsampleColorImages false
  /ColorImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
  /ColorImageResolution 300
  /ColorImageDepth 8
  /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1
  /ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
  /EncodeColorImages true
  /ColorImageFilter /FlateEncode
  /AutoFilterColorImages false
  /ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
  /ColorACSImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /ColorImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /JPEG2000ColorImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /AntiAliasGrayImages false
  /CropGrayImages true
  /GrayImageMinResolution 300
  /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /DownsampleGrayImages false
  /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
  /GrayImageResolution 300
  /GrayImageDepth 8
  /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2
  /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
  /EncodeGrayImages true
  /GrayImageFilter /FlateEncode
  /AutoFilterGrayImages false
  /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
  /GrayACSImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /GrayImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /JPEG2000GrayImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /AntiAliasMonoImages false
  /CropMonoImages true
  /MonoImageMinResolution 1200
  /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /DownsampleMonoImages false
  /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
  /MonoImageResolution 1200
  /MonoImageDepth -1
  /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
  /EncodeMonoImages true
  /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode
  /MonoImageDict <<
    /K -1
  >>
  /AllowPSXObjects false
  /CheckCompliance [
    /None
  ]
  /PDFX1aCheck true
  /PDFX3Check false
  /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly true
  /PDFXNoTrimBoxError false
  /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
  ]
  /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true
  /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
  ]
  /PDFXOutputIntentProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2)
  /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier (CGATS TR 001)
  /PDFXOutputCondition ()
  /PDFXRegistryName (http://www.color.org)
  /PDFXTrapped /False

  /CreateJDFFile false
  /Description <<
    /ARA 
    /BGR 
    /CHS 
    /CHT 
    /CZE 
    /DAN 
    /DEU 
    /ESP 
    /ETI 
    /FRA 
    /GRE 
    /HEB 
    /HRV 
    /HUN 
    /ITA (Utilizzare queste impostazioni per creare documenti Adobe PDF che devono essere conformi o verificati in base a PDF/X-1a:2001, uno standard ISO per lo scambio di contenuto grafico. Per ulteriori informazioni sulla creazione di documenti PDF compatibili con PDF/X-1a, consultare la Guida dell'utente di Acrobat. I documenti PDF creati possono essere aperti con Acrobat e Adobe Reader 4.0 e versioni successive.)
    /JPN 
    /KOR 
    /LTH 
    /LVI 
    /NLD (Gebruik deze instellingen om Adobe PDF-documenten te maken die moeten worden gecontroleerd of moeten voldoen aan PDF/X-1a:2001, een ISO-standaard voor het uitwisselen van grafische gegevens. Raadpleeg de gebruikershandleiding van Acrobat voor meer informatie over het maken van PDF-documenten die compatibel zijn met PDF/X-1a. De gemaakte PDF-documenten kunnen worden geopend met Acrobat en Adobe Reader 4.0 en hoger.)
    /NOR 
    /POL 
    /PTB 
    /RUM 
    /RUS 
    /SKY 
    /SLV 
    /SUO 
    /SVE 
    /TUR 
    /UKR 
    /ENU (Use these settings to create Adobe PDF documents that are to be checked or must conform to PDF/X-1a:2001, an ISO standard for graphic content exchange.  For more information on creating PDF/X-1a compliant PDF documents, please refer to the Acrobat User Guide.  Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 4.0 and later.)
  >>
  /Namespace [
    (Adobe)
    (Common)
    (1.0)
  ]
  /OtherNamespaces [
    <<
      /AsReaderSpreads false
      /CropImagesToFrames true
      /ErrorControl /WarnAndContinue
      /FlattenerIgnoreSpreadOverrides false
      /IncludeGuidesGrids false
      /IncludeNonPrinting false
      /IncludeSlug false
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (InDesign)
        (4.0)
      ]
      /OmitPlacedBitmaps false
      /OmitPlacedEPS false
      /OmitPlacedPDF false
      /SimulateOverprint /Legacy
    >>
    <<
      /AddBleedMarks false
      /AddColorBars false
      /AddCropMarks false
      /AddPageInfo false
      /AddRegMarks false
      /ConvertColors /ConvertToCMYK
      /DestinationProfileName ()
      /DestinationProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK
      /Downsample16BitImages true
      /FlattenerPreset <<
        /PresetSelector /HighResolution
      >>
      /FormElements false
      /GenerateStructure false
      /IncludeBookmarks false
      /IncludeHyperlinks false
      /IncludeInteractive false
      /IncludeLayers false
      /IncludeProfiles false
      /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (CreativeSuite)
        (2.0)
      ]
      /PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK
      /PreserveEditing true
      /UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged
      /UntaggedRGBHandling /UseDocumentProfile
      /UseDocumentBleed false
    >>
  ]
>> setdistillerparams
<<
  /HWResolution [2400 2400]
  /PageSize [612.000 792.000]
>> setpagedevice



		Superintendent of Documents
	2020-02-21T01:14:07-0500
	US GPO, Washington, DC 20401
	Superintendent of Documents
	GPO attests that this document has not been altered since it was disseminated by GPO