Should Iowa be feeding kids or playing politics?

Iowa has turned down $29 million in federal aid to provide food assistance to roughly 240,000 kids during the summer months. We believe the decision was a mistake.

In a statement, Gov. Kim Reynolds said the spending isn’t “sustainable,” although it would take congressional action to scrap the program. She contends providing kids with $40 monthly through EBT cards won’t promote nutrition and address an epidemic of child obesity. The state also would spend $2.2 million to administer the program.

The cards, like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, don’t restrict the purchase of pop, other sugary drinks and juices and “junk” food.

What Reynolds is basically saying is low-income families can’t be trusted to spend the money on healthy food, so denying a household with three kids $120 in extra food help monthly is for kids’ own good.

Reynolds would rather enhance existing programs, although we aren’t sure how.

This scapegoating of low-income families is cruel but hardly surprising. This is a governor who pushed for new limits on SNAP participation and unemployment help by arguing that safety net programs had become a “hammock” for recipients.

The governor has repeatedly turned down millions in federal dollars related to climate change, affordable housing, child care shortages and COVID testing in schools. In every case, Reynolds’ excuses and reasoning don’t hold water.

Five percent of dollars received by SNAP recipients are spent on pop, making it the No. 1 purchase, according to a USDA report released in 2017. But they also spent 40% of assistance on “basic items,” milk, eggs, bread, fruits, vegetables and meat. Another 40 cents per dollar was spent on “cereal, prepared foods, dairy products, rice and beans.”

Studies have found that food insecurity makes obesity issues worse, not better. Families lacking access to a grocery store in food deserts and resources to afford healthier food, which can be more expensive, have more limited and often unhealthy food choices.

If childhood obesity is truly an epidemic in Iowa, what is the governor’s plan? Will she be outlining new initiatives for lawmakers to consider during the upcoming session? How much more money will she be directing to existing programs?

Does the governor have a solution? Or did she simply use the obesity issue as an excuse to turn down federal money and criticize a Democratic president. The proof will be in the governor’s policies, and Iowans will be watching.

(319) 398-8362; editorial@thegazette.com