Growing Pains - Why are governors rejecting funds for kids' summer meals?

The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children (EBT), the first new federal food aid initiative in decades, is a permanent extension of Congress’ Covid-era relief that sought to provide extra meals for more than 30 million school kids who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. But more than 10 million children will miss out this summer, according to the USDA. Thirteen other states—Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming—also chose not to enroll. And they all have something else in common: Republican governors.

- By Bryce Covert - Illustration by Álvaro Bernis

When I spoke with Mandi Remington in late January, she had just seven bucks left in her bank account and she’d run out of milk. Toward the end of most months, Remington told me, she’ll feed her three children and then make her own dinner from whatever is left on their plates. Her $55,000 salary as a medical records clerk in Iowa City doesn’t leave much for gas and groceries, yet she earns too much to qualify for Medicaid or food stamps. So when she discovered Iowa had opted out of a program to help feed low-income families when school is out, and that it would have sent her $40 a month per kid, “it was extremely frustrating,” she says.