Lawmakers balk at kids’ food program

BOISE — The Idaho Senate killed a budget Thursday over concerns about a summer food program for children.

Senators voted 25-10 to reject SB 1445, the enhancement budget for the Welfare Division of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee quickly met later that afternoon to pass a new budget that excluded the funds for the program.

The enhancement budget cost a total of $1.2 million in state general funds, and $545,300 would have gone to what’s called the Summer EBT Program.

The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program is a new federal program that is similar to a program implemented over the pandemic to provide food for low-income, school-age children over the summer. There are 37 states that have opted in, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The program, which also includes $545,300 in federal grant money for administration, would provide $40 per eligible child per month over the summer months in the form of a card that could be used to buy groceries. The USDA would pay for all the meals at about $16.3 million in total, and the card would work similar to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP.

The division was expected to serve around 136,000 students at a total cost of $120 per student for the entire summer, according to the legislative budget book. The cost would be split with the Department of Education, which has $60,000 for the program in its budget. The budget-writing committee also removed this funding from the Department of Education budget Thursday afternoon.

Several members of the Idaho Freedom Caucus spoke out against the program.

Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, who serves on the budget-writing committee, said he opposed the bill just because of the program. He thought there should be more limitations on it and that it duplicated other efforts to provide lunches to kids students over the summer.

Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, said the program was a “permanent expansion of the welfare state.”

Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, said it could be “easy to abuse,” because it is accepted anywhere that SNAP benefits are taken.

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch, senators,” Nichols said. “But this is something that I feel is creating a problem because it is creating the environment of putting kids on welfare so that they continue to want to be on it.”

Sen. Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins, said local communities could take care of hungry kids, but the program was too broad and didn’t require the kids to work.

“We’re sending the wrong message to parents and kids that we’re going to keep providing for everybody without needing something in return,” Carlson said. “And I believe that the message we need to be sending is we all need to work for what we get.”

Some of the Democrats spoke in favor of the budget, in particular the program. Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, noted Idaho has more than 40,000 food-insecure children, according to the Idaho Foodbank. She also said the program is paid for by the federal government and the state is just responsible for administering the program.

Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said she visited food banks over the summer and saw the issue of food insecurity.

“There are a lot of our kids, through no fault of their own, don’t have enough to eat and their nutrition lacks,” Wintrow said. “And we’re splitting hairs here on kids to eat over the summer. This is a very sad day for me.”

The budget also includes $11.5 million of federal funds for child care subsidies for low-income parents.

The budget writers in JFAC met and passed a new budget in a 16-4 vote. A competing motion, made by Rep. Brooke Green, D-Boise, would have boosted the program to the governor’s recommended $867,000. Her motion failed in a 12-8 vote.

“The idea that we are going to pass a budget intentionally removing the ability to ensure that our children are fed, our vulnerable children, children who haven’t necessarily chosen the outcome in their life, is incredibly disheartening,” Green said.

The Democrats on JFAC and Reps. Matthew Bundy, R-Mountain Home; Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg; Rod Furniss, R-Rigby; James Petzke, R-Meridian; and Clay Handy, R-Burley voted in favor of the motion that would have funded the program.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on X @EyeOnBoiseGuido.