Texas is passing up nearly $350 million in federal aid to help feed millions of low-income children during the summer months after a state agency said it lacked the time and resources to implement the program this year.
Summer EBT, a new U.S. Department of Agriculture program approved by Congress in 2022, will provide families in participating states with funds to buy groceries to fill the void when their children are not receiving meals at school. The benefits ā $40 per eligible child per month ā will be dispensed via āelectronic benefit transferā cards, similar to a prepaid debit card, for three months.
The majority of states, as well as several territories and tribal nations, have signed onto the program. Texas is among a minority of 16 states not participating.
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USDA spokesperson Allan Rodriguez pushed back on Texas health officialsā reasoning, saying the agency provided an āunprecedented level of guidance and supportā to states in the months leading up to the rollout.
āThe fact that 44 states, territories and tribes are moving forward in the programās inaugural year shows that states have had the information they needed,ā Rodriguez said. āThose that do not launch the program this summer will have future opportunities to opt-in, and we will keep working with every state and tribe to set them up for success in doing so.ā
Shitty grid, starving children, racist deputized border agents arresting American citizens. Texas is a 3rd world country.
Iāve said it before, and Iāll say it as many times as I need to. Iāve lived in ā3rd world countriesā, and Iāve lived in Texas. Texas is worse.
Third world countries really get a bad rap.
Itās also such a dehumanising concept. The āFirst Worldā is the Anglosphere and Western Europe, the āSecond Worldā is the Sovietsphere, and the āThird Worldā is just everything else. How the hell are Eritrea, India, the UAE and Brazil in any way related to one another or even similar? What a stupid way to group nations thatās extremely outdated for the modern world.
While I prefer the modern term āGlobal Southā as encompassing developing nations, it still has its own issues - particularly as an Australian because weāre southern hemispheric but definitely donāt fall under the banner of āGlobal Southā.
Why not just ādeveloping worldā
Donāt forget about our border towns on the TX-NM border doing their best to lock down road travel for pregnant women!
Theyāre failing for the moment, but dammit theyāre trying!
Also the majority of rural texas has similar access to hospitals and doctors, for many of the largest aspects of healthcare, as Guatemala.