# Plain Language Summary: Congressional Disapproval of Food and Nutrition Service Rule

Congress is voting to reject a rule that the Food and Nutrition Service (part of the Department of Agriculture) created to prevent discrimination in how it handles complaints. Specifically, the rule applies a 2020 Supreme Court decision called Bostock v. Clayton County to the way the agency processes discrimination complaints in its food assistance programs.

To understand what this means: The Bostock decision said that federal law protects people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment. The Food and Nutrition Service's rule extended this protection to people using federal food assistance programs like SNAP (food stamps) and school lunch programs. Under the rule, if someone believed they were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity when trying to access these food benefits, they could file a complaint and have it taken seriously by the agency.

If Congress passes this disapproval resolution, the rule would be cancelled. This means the Food and Nutrition Service would no longer be required to process discrimination complaints based on sexual orientation or gender identity in the same way. People who believe they've been discriminated against in food assistance programs based on these characteristics would lose this specific protection at the federal level. The practical effect is that complaints from LGBTQ+ individuals seeking food assistance would potentially be handled differently or dismissed, depending on how the agency chooses to proceed without the rule.

A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Food and Nutrition Service relating to "Application of Bostock v. Clayton County to Program Discrimination Complaint Processing-Policy Update".

Marshall, Roger

This joint resolution nullifies the policy update issued by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) on May 5, 2022, related to discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) deemed the policy update a rule on June 5, 2023, and therefore subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA) requirement that a rule must be submitted to Congress and the GAO before it can take effect. The CRA also permits Congress to review and disapprove rules using specified procedures. In June 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the prohibition on sex discrimination in employment includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The FNS determined that the Bostock analysis also applies to certain FNS-enforced requirements under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 because the requirements are sufficiently similar to those in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The FNS rule concludes that the prohibitions against sex discrimination in the FNS-enforced statutes prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. The rule also directs state agencies and program operators to handle complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation as complaints of prohibited sex discrimination.