Jim Pillen reversed course on Monday and announced that the state will accept roughly $18 million in federal funding to help feed hungry children over the summer break.
“They talked about being hungry, and they talked about the summer USDA program and, depending upon access, when they'd get a sack of food,” Pillen said.
A bill from state Sen. Jen Day of Omaha, a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, would have forced the state to accept the federal funding.
Kim Reynolds criticized the federal food program as doing “nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic."
Pillen said Monday that Nebraska officials had already reached out to the USDA to confirm that the state would participate this year.
Persons:
LINCOLN, Jim Pillen, Pillen, “, they'd, ” Pillen, ”, —, Sen, Jen, Ray Aguilar, Aguilar, Kim Reynolds, Reynolds, State Sen, Megan Hunt, ” Hunt
Organizations:
—, — Nebraska Gov, U.S . Department of Agriculture, Capitol, SNAP, Summer Food Service, Democrat, Republican, Nebraska, State, USDA
Locations:
Neb, — Nebraska, Nebraska, Pillen's, Omaha, Grand, Iowa