Iowa will not participate in a federal program that gives $40 per month to each child in a low-income family over the summer to help with food costs while school is out.

Iowa will not participate this summer in a federal program that gives $40 per month to each child in a low-income family to help with food costs while school is out, state officials have announced.

The state has notified the U.S. Department of Agriculture that it will not participate in the 2024 Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children — or Summer EBT — program, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education said in a Friday news release.

“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 the news release.

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A bipartisan group of Nebraska lawmakers have urged the state to reconsider, saying Summer EBT would address the needs of vulnerable children and benefit the state economically, the Journal Star reported.

  • Feirdro@lemmy.world
    50·
    1 year ago

    They literally believe that the gubmint is feeding poor children so much they’ve become obese.

    Gah, i feel dirty when i see things from their pov.

    • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
      33·
      1 year ago

      That’s the charitable interpretation! The other way of reading it is that in reality some children are obese while others go hungry, but they can’t be bothered to give a shit which are which.

      • kautau@lemmy.world
        10·
        1 year ago

        Nothing they say is about children. Regardless of the topic, anything they say can be translated to “this isn’t making the rich richer, perhaps it’s even making the rich less rich, and therefore I will vote against it”