Thirteen states controlled by Republican governors are refusing to take part in a federal summertime food program that aims to provide supplemental income for groceries to families with children who have limited or no access to free or reduced-price lunches while they’re out of school.
The program provides each qualifying household with $40 per month for every qualifying child in supplemental EBT dollars. A household with two qualifying children, for instance, would receive $240 in extra grocery money over the course of the summer.However, 13 states are refusing to accept federal funding for Summer EBT and will not be offering the program to its qualifying residents.
“An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic,” Reynolds said in December.that restricting the foods people can buy using federal EBT programs only hinders the ability of qualifying individuals and families to shop for food, as proposals set forth by Republicans would be difficult to implement, and would increase burdens on grocery stores, particularly smaller markets.
Reynolds’s complaints are hypocritical given that, during her condemnation of Biden’s State of the Union speech in 2022, shePartly because of these governors’ actions, food pantries and other nongovernmental programs are becoming overwhelmed with demand now that children are home from school for the summer.