This story was originally published Dec. 15, 2023. It was updated Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, after the state announced it would not join the summer EBT program.
Gov. Kim Reynolds has declined federal funding that would provide additional food assistance to about 240,000 low-income Iowa kids during the summer.
The Summer EBT program—created during the pandemic and then made permanent—would give families about $40 per month in the summer for each child who is eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch to help ensure kids get enough to eat when they’re not in school.
States must notify the federal government by Jan. 1 if they intend to offer the additional benefits in the summer of 2024. As of Wednesday, 23 states said they would join the program. But Reynolds announced Iowa will not be one of them.
“Federal COVID-era cash benefit programs are not sustainable and don’t provide long-term solutions for the issues impacting children and families,” Reynolds said in a statement Friday afternoon. “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.”
Reynolds said the Biden administration and Congress should invest in existing nutrition programs and give states more flexibility to tailor them to each state’s needs.
Iowa Hunger Coalition Chair Luke Elzinga said the group is “incredibly disappointed” by Reynolds’ decision and the rhetoric used in her announcement. He said obesity and food insecurity go hand in hand because highly processed, unhealthy foods are often the cheapest foods.
“This idea that we’re going to reduce obesity by keeping benefits from people is not only just incredibly upsetting on its face, but goes against reams of evidence that show when we provide more benefits to people, we see people able to make healthier choices for their families,” Elzinga said.
He said food pantries and food banks across the state are seeing historic need, and state leaders are declining a big opportunity to address food insecurity.
Similar to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, the Summer EBT benefits would be fully paid for by the federal government. But the state would have to split the cost of the program’s administration, which Iowa officials estimate would cost the state $2.2 million.
“No child should go hungry, least of all in Iowa, but the Summer EBT program fails to address the barriers that exist to healthy and nutritional foods,” Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Director Kelly Garcia said Friday. “Iowa’s kids need consistent access to nutritionally dense food, and their families need to feel supported to make healthy choices around food and nutrition. Another benefit card addressed to children is not the way to take on this issue.”
According to the Food Research and Action Center, about 240,000 kids in Iowa would be eligible for the summer food assistance in 2024 at a cost of $28,800,000 to the federal government.
FRAC estimated that could generate between $43,200,000 and $51,840,000 in local economic activity in the summer of 2024.
State officials highlighted other programs that provided more than 1.6 million meals and snacks to Iowa kids during the summer across more than 500 meal sites.
Elzinga said the Summer EBT program is meant to complement, not replace, other summer food programs for kids. He said food bank usage increases during the summer when kids aren’t in school, and not all kids can get to summer meal sites.
The director of the Iowa Department of Education said the state looks forward to expanding existing child nutrition programs but did not provide details.
Sen. Izaah Knox, D-Des Moines, said the decision to not join the Summer EBT program was “cruel and short-sighted.” But he said there needs to be collaboration between the Reynolds administration and community stakeholders to address food insecurity in other ways.
“Now is the time to take action to ensure every Iowa family who needs food gets it,” Knox said.
HHS director discussed “operational” challenges at mid-December meeting
Garcia was asked if Iowa would join the Summer EBT program during a Dec. 14 meeting of the Council on Health and Human Services.
At the time, she said state officials were still evaluating program requirements. Garcia did not mention child obesity as a reason the state might decline to participate.
“We believe in feeding kids, period. Full stop. But there are a lot of operational details we’re needing to plan for because Congress didn’t lay out a full package of how to operationalize this program,” Garcia said on Dec. 14.
She said there are some administrative challenges because the program would use Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards to distribute the food assistance, but it’s related to school lunch programs rather than SNAP.
“But don’t let that necessarily be a signal of us saying no,” Garcia said. “We’re just trying to work through the detail.”
Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, had asked Garcia if the state would join the program.
“We want to make sure that our state has that opportunity…because it is going to help a lot of kids,” Trone Garriott said.
She said Iowa just has to declare interest in participating by Jan. 1, and the state could pull out of the program if officials find it to be unworkable.
But Garcia said the state would be committing to the program by expressing an intent to participate.
After the state’s decision was announced, Trone Garriott said this is a “shameful decision that will hurt struggling Iowa families.”
“We are in a food insecurity crisis, with record numbers of Iowans seeking help from food pantries,” she said. “It is shocking that in a time of great need our governor would refuse millions of federal dollars that would go directly to feed hundreds of thousands of Iowa children.”
Trone Garriott said Reynolds still has time to change her mind before the Jan. 1 deadline.
Elzinga said while it looks like Iowa will not be participating in the Summer EBT program in 2024, anti-hunger advocates will push the state to join the program in 2025.
