President Joe Biden’s administration is trying to add pressure to the Republican-led states that have refused funding for a summer meal program for kids. Among those states, is Florida.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says she cannot understand why Florida is refusing to use $250 million meant to feed kids during the summer:
“No kid should have to spend their summer hungry, period. none. None," she said in an interview with WFSU.
The program provides the additional funding through EBT cards and piggybacks on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP—colloquially known as food stamps. The money is added to EBT cards for families to spend on food. And its worth about $120 per child for the months on June, July and August.
“It is jeopardizing the opportunity for 2.15 million children in Florida who would have been eligible to receive the summer EBT benefits. They’re not going to receive this…And this costs Floridians nothing. Gov. DeSantis left $250 million on the table by walking away and not opting into this," said Jean-Pierre.
Congress approved the program in December and the deadline for states to apply for the money was January first. Florida officials have defended the decision to not applying for the money by pointing to other programs already in place, like the Summer BreakSpot program, that allows children to travel to designated schools and community sites to receive free meals. But that’s not the same, says Jean-Pierre. This program, she says, is money that goes directly to families.
“Not every family is able to get to those schools to get to those lunches. This is an opportunity to give low-income families a broader way to get food to their families and their kids that they truly, truly need this summer.”
Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo was asked about Florida’s refusal to accept the money Thursday, and called the issue "a discussion we're going to need to have."
“There are a lot of reasons they did what they did. It goes back to COVID and the timing, so I think there are going to be much more conversations about that going forward this summer.”
In a statement to sister-station WUSF, the Florida Department of Children and Families cited “strings attached” to the money and said that it anticipates being successful without any additional federal programs. There is still the option for Florida to opt into the program for Summer 2025.
