NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — After turning down federal funding to extend a summer food assistance program last December over administrative costs, Gov. Bill Lee has proposed a $3 million state-run summer food assistance program that would cost the state less, but serve fewer children.
Last Dec., Gov. Lee rejected around $70 million in federal funding for Summer EBT, a pandemic-era program Congress made permanent in 2023 which provides federal funding to extend food assistance benefits for families during the summer.
The program provided meals for more than 640,000 Tennesseans last year, however, the state was responsible for paying nearly $6 million in administrative fees to implement the program.
📧 Have breaking news come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts →
A spokesperson for Gov. Lee’s office provided the following statement to News 2 last Dec. about why the state turned down the funds:
“The Summer EBT program was established in the pandemic-era to supplement existing food assistance programs in an extraordinary circumstance. The federal government has increasingly shifted the administrative cost burden to the states, prompting Tennessee not to renew our participation, as the program is mostly duplicative.”
A few months later, Gov. Lee proposed a $3 million state summer food assistance program instead, which would serve children living in the 15 counties identified as unserved or underserved by the Summer Food Service Program.
Gov. Lee’s proposal would provide “a $120 one-time payment to eligible children in SNAP and TANF households in underserved or unserved counties identified by the Summer Food Service Program,” according to the TN Dept. of Human Services.
When asked about the proposal Thursday, Republican leadership in the General Assembly said they would have more conversations before deciding to approve the $3 million funding request for the program.
“Can we afford to do it ourselves? Yes,” Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said. “Should we do something just to pull down extra money? And I think that’s where [the Department of Government Efficiency] is going in those directions about saving. One of the things that we have a bill here kind of on the same route is having the Appropriations Subcommittee look at the departments and all the federal grants we apply for, and do we really need those, or are we chasing the money just to get the money?”
Speaker Sexton added lawmakers and the governor will discuss whether more money needs to be spent for a summer food assistance program in TN, “based on what other programs are out there that could be doing the same thing,” Sexton said.
“Second Harvest may do some other stuff. In Cumberland County, there is a ‘We Are One’ that’s looking to expand with Second Harvest,” Speaker Sexton continued. “I think you need to look at the totality of the picture and not just assume that no one else is doing it, but also realize you have to do it together.”
However, House Democratic Caucus Chairman, Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) called the governor turning down the federal funds to propose a scaled-back program “fiscally irresponsible” and “cruel.”
“It just demonstrates a callous indifference to the lives of Tennesseans, and in this case, it’s innocent children,” Rep. Clemmons said.
Rep. Clemmons argued the extra administrative costs of the federal program would pay for itself because the program feeds that many more children, providing meals to kids in all 95 counties, versus 15 in the governor’s proposal.
“There’s no rhyme or reason whatsoever that Gov. Lee would be this cruel to deprive Tennessee children of food during the summer when they’re away from school, they don’t have access to free and reduced meals, and these children are going to be running around in the other 80 counties with hungry bellies and empty stomachs,” Rep. Clemmons said. “That is simply inhumane and cruel for the governor to do that.”
Lawmakers could make tweaks to Gov. Lee’s budget proposal before voting to approve a final budget later this legislative session.
