View From The Cab

By David Tollefson, Columnist

An interesting article by Chris Clayton of DTNag on Jan. 9, 2024 caught my eye.

Here it is, edited for length:

How fair would it be if a farmer in Iowa or Nebraska received a new aid program approved by Congress, but a farmer in the same circumstance in Missouri or Kansas wasn’t eligible – only because the governor doesn’t believe in “welfare?”

And how would the American Farm Bureau, National Farmers Union and other farm groups react if governors just decided to opt out of a new farm program approved by Congress?

There would be an all-out blitz from AFBF, NFU, NCGA, ASA, NAWG, NFGFA and each of their state affiliates to force these governors to reconsider. That’s what would happen. The pressure would be relentless.

School children from low-income families don’t have that kind of lobbying firepower. And it’s starting to show.

Reports are piling up about governors choosing to opt out of a new nutrition program for low-income public-school children, Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer, or “Summer EBT.” Governors so far have opted not to offer the program to families with roughly 6.9 million children.

The program was started during the pandemic, giving families $40 a month for each low-income child for groceries. Essentially, Summer EBT operates a great deal like the debit cards for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). An estimated 29 million nationally qualify for the program.

Reporter Helena Bottemiller Evich, who operates a policy wonk newsletter called Food Fix, explains that the permanent Summer EBT was a negotiated tradeoff in Congress in summer 2022 for ending overall higher SNAP benefits as pandemic aid wound down. Congress agreed, providing the parents of low-income children benefits to buy food at grocery stores over the summer to make up for the loss of in-school meals – about $120 per child over three months. The move also was, in part, an effort to update child nutrition programs for the first time in a decade, Bottemiller Evich explained.

At least 35 states have opted into the program, but some governors also are making a point of opting out.

“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,” Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a December news release when Reynold’s office made it clear Iowa children don’t need Summer EBT.

Iowa has roughly 200,000 children eligible for Summer EBT, according to a spreadsheet on the Iowa Department of Education website showing free and reduced lunches by school district. There are several school districts in Iowa where 80%-95% of the children are eligible for free or reduced lunches.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen followed suit, saying it would cost his state about $300,000 to implement a program that would generate $18 million in summer food payments to roughly 150,000 children.

“COVID-19 IS over, and Nebraska taxpayers expect that pandemic-era government relief programs will end too,” Pillen stated, after telling local media he doesn’t believe in welfare.

Pillen’s office said Nebraska will continue to participate in the USDA Summer Food Services program, which requires kids to be able to attend approved programs to participate.

A line of states with other Republican governors started opting out as well.

*In Oklahoma, that’s 403,000 children who won’t receive benefits. Yet, at least some Oklahoma-based Tribes are opting into the program.

*Mississippi’s Department of Human Services (DHS) responded to DTN that DHS and the state’s Department of Education “lack the resources, including workforce capacity and funding to support a Summer EBT program.” About 70% of Mississippi school children, or more than 320,000 kids, qualify for free or reduced lunches.

*South Dakota opted out even though about 30% of children in the state would qualify.

*Georgia, according to 11 Alive TV, opted out of the program, which would aid roughly 1 million children. A spokesman for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp offered a similar complaint to Reynolds. “This federal COVID-era EBT program not only lacks basic nutritional requirements and sustainability but fails to address the mission of improving the health and wellness of our children,” said Kemp spokesman Garrison Douglas.

*Florida is passing up $248 million, which would help feed roughly 2 million children in the state.

*Texas has as many as 2.8 million children that could be left out of Summer EBT, or an estimated $336 million passed on. Groups that backed the program were not only child and hunger advocates, but retailers such as Walmart, according to Texas Public Radio.

According to USDA’s website, seven other states are not on the list for Summer EBT. They include Alaska, Alabama, Idaho, Louisiana, South Carolina, Vermont and Wyoming.

Bottemiller Evich reported USDA plans to update the website with more state listings.  She also indicated Pennsylvania has filed the paperwork but the state is not listed on USDA’S website.

USDA’s press office, in a response to DTN, said in a statement the governors and states that did not enroll this year will have the ability to opt-in later. “USDA is pleased to see the strong progress made in launching Summer EBT in its inaugural year, and looks forward to sharing the full list of participating states, tribes and territories from every region of our country in the coming days. The Department has been, and will continue, providing extensive assistance, trainings, tools and more to the states, territories and tribes who have committed to implementing the program this year, as well as those planning for 2025 and beyond. Those that do not launch the program this summer will have future opportunities to opt-in, and we hope every state will consider doing so.”

Looking at childhood poverty for some of these states, Mississippi has the highest at 27.1%. Alabama 22.7%, Georgia and Oklahoma 20.5%. South Dakota is 14.4%, Iowa 12.4%. (Minnesota’s is at 11%.)

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders chose to join the new program, citing that nutrition is critical for children to thrive and she and her staff prefer the Summer EBT. “Making sure no Arkansan goes hungry, especially children, is a top priority for my administration. I am thankful to Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark., also ranking member of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee) for his leadership on this issue.”

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Editor’s note: According to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website, as of Jan. 9, 2024, Minnesota was listed as one of the states that has announced its intent to launch the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program in summer 2024.

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Please contact David Tollefson with thoughts or comments on this or future columns at: adtollef@hcinet.net