Iowa among 17 states that won’t seek federal money for children’s food aid

Editor’s note: This story was updated Jan. 3 as the USDA updated its list of states that have said they plan to apply for the 2024 Summer EBT program.

Iowa is among 17 states — nearly all led by Republican governors — that won’t participate in a federal program that provides hundreds of millions of dollars for summer food aid for children.

Leaders of several states that have refused the money say they don’t need or want the handout from the Democratic Biden administration, but children’s advocates say families are struggling and nonprofits can only do so much.

“Summer EBT should be a bipartisan no-brainer policy win for Iowa’s kids,” Iowa Hunger Coalition board Chair Luke Elzinga said in a statement last month.

Monday was the deadline for states to notify the U.S. Department of Agriculture they wanted to participate in Summer EBT, which provides $40 a month to low-income children to use for food during June, July and August.

The USDA reported Wednesday 32 states, four territories and two tribal nations sent word they want to participate in the 2024 program. Seventeen states are not on the USDA’s list, including Iowa and Midwest neighbors Nebraska and South Dakota. The USDA website says the list “may underrepresent the total number of states, territories, and tribal nations who have declared their intent to participate.”

Of the states that declined the funding, 16 are led by Republican governors. Pennsylvania, led by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, wasn’t on the USDA’s list as of Wednesday, but a press secretary for Pennsylvania Department of Human Services wrote to The Gazette to say the state does plan to participate and had submitted notice Dec. 29.

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said Dec. 22 the state would not join the Summer EBT program, opting instead to use state money to enhance other summer food programs she said are more nutritious. Iowa had received more than $20 million per year from Summer EBT in past years, lawmakers said.

”If the Biden Administration and Congress want to make a real commitment to family well-being, they should invest in already existing programs and infrastructure at the state level and give us the flexibility to tailor them to our state’s needs,“ Reynolds said in a statement.

Iowa Health and Human Services said by not participating in Summer EBT, Iowa would save $2.2 million in administrative costs. Critics of the decision said that is the cost of running the entire Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), not just the summer add-on.

Of the 132,000 Iowa households enrolled in SNAP, 41.5 percent have children in the home, the Iowa human services agency reported. SNAP enrollment has declined, down from over 150,000 households in 2020 to 132,000 for 2024, the agency said.

“Their press release praises the fact that enrollment in SNAP is at a 15-year low in Iowa,” Elzinga said. “But when we have food banks and food pantries across the state assisting record-breaking numbers of people, that should be worn as a mark of shame, not a badge of honor.”

A 2018 USDA study of SNAP participants found 61 percent said the most common hurdle to eating fruits, vegetables and other healthy food was the cost.

Last summer, more than 1.6 million meals and snacks were served to children 18 and younger throughout Iowa as part of the Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option program. These are the programs Iowa officials say they will expand in 2024 in lieu of Summer EBT.

The Governor’s Office did not reply Tuesday to a request to know how much additional funding would go to the state-run summer food programs in 2024.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, said his state will turn down about $18 million from the USDA for the Summer EBT program because “I don’t believe in welfare,” the Lincoln Star Journal reported.

“We’re solving the problem. We’re taking care of the kids. And we’re doing it in a way that the best value is created and we take care of the kids,” Pillen said.

Florida also has not filed notice to seek more than $200 million in food aid funding for school kids.

Mallory McManus, spokeswoman for that state’s Department of Children and Families, said last month Florida likely would not apply and would “continue to be successful this year without any additional federal programs that inherently always come with some federal strings attached,” the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Reynolds has been closely aligned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who she endorsed for the Republican nomination for president ahead of the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses.

Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com