Oklahoma Rejects Plan To Help Feed Hungry Kids

Oklahoma has decided not to accept government support for a summer feeding program for more vulnerable children.

The state decided not to take the funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), with Republican Governor Kevin Stitt saying he was wary of the government pushing "certain agenda items."

Stitt said "we just don't know enough about the program," after he decided not to opt into the scheme brought forward by the Biden administration.

Low or very low food security was prevalent in 14.3 percent of households with children in Oklahoma, according to the USDA's Household Food Security in the United States in 2022 report. A further 4.9 percent said they had very low food security.

The report says Oklahoma is one of the states with a "statistically significantly higher" than national average of food insecurity.

The World Population Review's estimate says 20.73 percent, around 194,537 children, are in child poverty.

Stitt said the existing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments are enough to feed Oklahoma's children already.

The payment would have allowed parents to use an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card to purchase up to $40 of groceries every month.

SNAP payments are currently issued to around 600,000 adults and children each month, according to Benefits.gov, part of the U.S. Department of Labor.

"I am satisfied that kids are going to be fed in the summertime through the regular course of DHS and programs for the needy that we have in the State of Oklahoma," Stitt said.

He added: "We pushed back as the Biden administration has tried to push social policies down related to funding."

Newsweek has approached the USDA and Stitt's office for comment via email and online form respectively.

Hunger Free Oklahoma CEO Chris Bernard told NBC affiliate KJRH-TV that the decision was "disappointing."

"You're going to see a lot of folks struggling who don't need to because we are giving up the opportunity to leverage a bunch of federal dollars to address a problem we know we have and really, they are taxpayer dollars that we paid to DC that we would like to see come back here," he said.

In a statement, the Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the program offered to the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations would be accepted. He called the decision by Oklahoma "bewildering."

"The Cherokee Nation is committed to ensuring children have access to nutritious food this summer because we know how vital food security is for families and overall health and wellness," he said. "It's regrettable and bewildering that the state of Oklahoma is abandoning federal funding and losing an opportunity to address child food insecurity."

Native and non-native children on reservations are eligible.