Why is Reynolds again rejecting summer SNAP for kids?

Once again our governor has declined the federal supplemental summer food program offering $29 million in total ($120 per child for 240,000 Iowa children). This helpful program is tiny in relation to the almost $11 billion the state accepts annually from the Federal government.

Why has Gov. Reynolds refused this much-needed funding? Last summer her labor-intensive alternative offered only $900,000. Surely, adding balances to debit cards requires less cost, coordination, and time, than buying and boxing up food, and delivering boxes around the state, which the governor’s poorly-funded alternative requires.

A staff person at the Governor’s office told me the real reason the federal money was rejected is that summer cards are issued with the individual child’s name on them and children cannot be trusted to buy healthy food. However, this justification is neither valid nor credible. I learned from a state legislator that in fact the individual state determines whether additional summer funds are loaded onto existing SNAP cards (which are in parents’ names) or whether the state issues new summer cards which can be in either children or parent names.

Right. The individual state decides how to handle this question of names on the cards; there is no requirement that the individual children be on the cards. And parents CAN and DO use cards issued to their children.

So what is really going on, Gov. Reynolds? Why do you accept literally billions from the feds but reject millions that would go directly to families?

Sue Ravenscroft

Ames