Do Food Insecure Kids Deserve Welfare?

[searcher]

From the link:

On the Friday before Christmas, Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that her state would opt out of a federal program that gives $40 per month to children who receive free and reduced-cost lunch to help with food costs while school is out.

The 2024 Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children — or Summer EBT — program is, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, based on USDA's Summer EBT for Children demonstration projects and Pandemic EBT. Despite Congress making the pandemic-era benefit, which was shown to reduce hunger and increase diet quality, permanent, Reynolds is skeptical.

"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.

"I do not believe in welfare": Some state Republicans opt out of Summer EBT program for hungry kids

"This cruel and short-sighted decision will have real impacts on children and families"

www.salon.com

 

[Voodoo]

Kids can't legally even have a bank account. So clearly this would be illegal.

 

[CiscoKid]

Nobody wants to see an innocent child go hungry. With that said, the government needs to stop incentivizing certain demographics to have children out of wedlock in order to increase their welfare take. I know a young lady who used to teach in the Atlanta area schools. She told me about 14 year old black girls who just couldn't wait to start having babies "cuz the gubmint gonna gib me money for each one". She told me that it is considered a "career" for many of them and all that their families have ever known. Generations of women who have never held a job because they just pop out child after child.

 

[nickndfl]

I have seen 3 generations of mask wearers in a household where nobody works. They all collect some kind of government check, ebt + subdidized housing and utilities. They usually have a vehile parked in the dtiveway on a Tuesday morning while everybody else is working. It's very tribal to me, but mostly disgraceful.

 

[searcher]

The Hill opinion piece

Opinion: The unconscionable rejection of food aid for hungry kids is all about politics​

The list of state initiatives in dire need of federal funds to address a host of important public health programs is long. Whether it’s related to Medicaid, the environment, transportation or housing, many states are desperate for help managing the ever-increasing needs of their communities.

A major public health threat consistently in need of state funding involves access to the most basic human essential — food. In response, the Biden administration recently announced details of a new bipartisan summer program that would provide $2.5 billion in state funding for healthier food options that will help 21 million low-income children when school isn’t in session.

The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer, or Summer EBT program, offers each child of an eligible family $40 per month, accessible via an EBT card, which can be used at grocery stores that accept Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits.

In a stunning move, 15 governors have said they will reject those funds. That’s not a typo: These state leaders will turn down resources that can help alleviate child hunger in their very own communities.

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[pmbug]

 

[searcher]

^^^^^^
My bad. Should have titled the thread "Should food insecure kids receive welfare?"

Then again, coulda went with "Greedy politicos starve hungry kids while living high on the hog!"

 

[pmbug]

My bad. ...

No worries. I enjoy posting that gif.

 

[searcher]

And I enjoy playing around

 

[searcher]

Why some governors turned down a food assistance program for children in their states​

Feb 9, 2024
A new federal food assistance program is aiming to reduce child hunger by giving low-income families money for summer groceries. But only those who live in certain states will have access to that relief. John Yang explains.

6:15

 

[nickndfl]

Back in the 1970s my mom signed up for the government cheese, rec center meals for kids and anything else she could get for free. My wife does not understand why I am so motivated to avoid poverty. Poverty is so embarrassing and often a function of incompetence and/or mental illness in this country or at least it was back then.

I had to deal with a bunch of scumbag kids and other assorted underachieving backstabbers that I do whatever it takes to insulate myself as much as possible from them today. I cannot stand fools or jealous idiots.

 

[searcher]

Republican Governor Flips, Takes $18 Million​

Republican Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen announced on Monday that he is reversing course and accepting federal funds for the USDA's expanded Summer EBT program.

Approximately 150,000 kids (grades K-12) in the Cornhusker State are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches at school; now they will receive $40 EBT cards for each summer month, too, when school is not in session. A total of $18 million will be spent on the food program in Nebraska.

After initially rejecting the program and telling a reporter he “doesn’t believe in welfare,” Pillen told 10/11 NOW that he was influenced by the conversations he had with kids who told him they sometimes went hungry and didn’t have enough access to food during summer break.

"When you sit down with kids who are living it, you learn life lessons," Pillen said. "I learned we have to do better for them."

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