Republican governors in 15 states reject summer food money for kids

silence7@slrpnk.net to politics @lemmy.world – 357 points –
wapo.st

Moving beyond efforts to block expansion of health care for the poor and disabled, Republican governors in 15 states are now rejecting a new, federally funded summer program to give food assistance to hungry children.

The program is expected to serve 21 million youngsters starting around June, providing $2.5 billion in relief across the country.

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surprised to see vermont on that list tbh

Just blame the computers ….

https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2024-01-08/vermont-opts-out-of-new-federal-food-assistance-program-due-to-administrative-costs

In Vermont, meanwhile, the organization that’s leading the charge to end childhood hunger in the state is backing the administration’s decision not to participate in Summer EBT this year.

Anore Horton, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont, said state agencies currently lack the technical infrastructure for a successful launch of Summer EBT.

“Our state agencies are eager to participate in Summer EBT, and they are committed to starting Summer EBT in summer of 2025,” Horton said. “So it’s not that they’re saying, ‘We’re not going to do this.’ They’re saying, ‘We’re not going to do this in Summer 2024.'”

Not having the administrative and technical ability to participate, but actually having a plan to fix that is at least understandable and forgivable. Some others have given some very silly reasoning.