A federal program that helped nourish hundreds of thousands of Tennessee children over the summer is at risk of expiring in the state unless the governor renews it by Jan. 1 — which he has indicated he does not plan to do.
The Summer EBT program provides $120 per child on electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, cards that low-income families can use to buy groceries when the school year ends. Initially a temporary relief measure during the pandemic, the program is now a permanent summer option, and it has helped many households afford nutritious food: The U.S. Agriculture Department, which oversees Summer EBT, estimates that nearly 21 million children across the country benefited from it this summer.
States must opt into the federally funded program for children to receive the summer grocery credits, and some states have declined to participate, citing administrative costs that partially come from state budgets, plus existing food programs that leaders say supply adequate nutrition when school is out…