Governors from 15 states reject summer food assistance program

Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Children in more than a dozen states like Iowa and Nebraska will not be getting food assistance this summer after 15 governors recently rejected a new federally funded food aid program to start in June.

An estimated 8 million youngsters would be affected across Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming.

This week, students in states that opted into the program started to receive enrollment notices.

The program would give electronic benefit transfer cards to low-income families to supplement food costs when academic classes are out of session, with eligible families receiving $40 a month, or a total of $120.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the summer 2024 program will serve close to 21 million children -- around 70% of the total eligible-- and provide nearly $2.5 billion in grocery benefits. As of 2022, 82.7% of American households with children were food secure in 2022.

Leaders of some states have pushed back for various reasons, including the requirement enrolled states must pay one-half of the administrative cost to implement the summer food aid programs.

Last week, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, who rejected the program, said he wouldn't participate because of his desire to reject "attempts to expand the welfare state," according to Mississippi Today.

Governors of states like South Dakota, Georgia and Nebraska opted out, pointing to their states' existing summer food programs or lack of funding or staff capacity to run the program, according to the Washington Post.

Late last year, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said her state would not participate in the program.

"Federal COVID-era cash benefit programs are not sustainable and don't provide long-term solutions for the issues impacting children and families. An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic," she said in a release in December.

Last summer, the offices of Gov. Kristi Noem and South Dakota Department of Education told News Watch the state is not applying because summer meal programs already are offered and it's too challenging to administer the program.

"Federal money often comes with strings attached, and more of it is often not a good thing," Ian Fury, the chief of communications for Noem, told SD News Watch. He cited low unemployment, the administrative burden of running the program and South Dakota's "robust existing food programs.

The USDA announced Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small is set to join U.S. territory and tribal leaders and partners from across the country in Baltimore in the two weeks to celebrate the program, according to a statement.

"No kid should have to spend their summer hungry, or without nutritious food," Small said in a statement. "Summer EBT is a giant step forward in meeting the needs of our nation's children and families throughout the year, and especially in the summer months."

This is the inaugural year of the program. States and tribes that do not launch it this summer could have opportunities to opt in later.