More than eight million children in 15 states led by Republican governors will be shut out of a new federal food assistance program intended to help needy families during the summer months. Via the New York Times:
Set to begin this summer, the new program will provide low-income families with $120 for each eligible child, which can be used to purchase food at grocery stores, farmers’ markets or other approved retailers when such assistance is not available in schools.
The deadline for states to opt into the program, which was approved by Congress with bipartisan support, was Jan. 1. And this week, the federal Agriculture Department announced that 35 states, all five U.S. territories and four tribal nations, mostly in Oklahoma, had signed up for the program, which provides a total of $2.5 billion in federal funds for an estimated 21 million children whose families already qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
The 35 states included all the ones led by Democratic governors, and a dozen led by Republican governors from all parts of the country.
But 15 Republican-led states said no. Some of those governors voiced concerns about the program’ mechanics and administrative costs; some indicated that they had ideological objections and a lack of faith in the federal government.
It might not be sheer Republican meanness in all of these states:
The 15 states that did not apply are Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming.
Asked why Florida did not apply for the summer food program, the state’s Department of Children and Families wrote in an email to The Orlando Sentinel last month: “We anticipate that our state’s full approach to serving children will continue to be successful this year without any additional federal programs that inherently always come with some federal strings attached.”
In Vermont, the Department for Children and Families said it declined to participate because the requirements were “very detailed and extensive.” But the department said that Vermont would want to provide “this important summer nutrition benefit” in 2025, as long as the state identified the necessary funds to run the program, and technology support and other infrastructure concerns were addressed.
