No Sun Bucks in Tennessee: Gov. Lee Rejects Summer Meal Funds, Lets Kids Go Hungry
Innovative, low-cost program with proven results rejected in favor of spending more and feeding less
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is mean. Or, rather cruel.
As a result of his desire to prove he’s a Trump loyalist and that Tennessee doesn’t need federal help, his Administration this year refused to accept federal dollars for the summer EBT program - known as Sun Bucks.
The program provides enhanced SNAP benefits during the summer to the families of kids who qualify for free and reduced lunch. And it works.
Sun Bucks is a pragmatic and powerful innovation. After fifty years of relying primarily on congregate meal service, pandemic-era pilots proved that grocery benefits are a high-impact complement. By institutionalizing that lesson, Sun Bucks delivers $120 per child to bridge the summer nutrition gap while preserving meal sites where they are effective. And beyond reducing hardship, the program’s $3.5 billion in benefits may generate over $5 billion in local economic activity each summer, supporting families, businesses, farmers, and communities alike. States that decline to participate are not just forgoing a proven strategy to reduce child hunger—they are turning down fully funded federal benefits that could strengthen their own local economies.
And there’s strong evidence the results extend beyond the summer:
Research on SNAP, a structurally similar program, shows it reduces child food insecurity by one-third, improves reading and math scores (especially for girls), and lowers the risk of chronic conditions like metabolic syndrome later in life. SNAP recipients are more likely to graduate, earn more, and live longer—likely due to better nutrition and health.
Lee refused the federal help and created a Tennessee version of the plan. The cost to the state was essentially the same - but, crucially, only 25,000 children were served this summer.
That’s down from 700,000 in prior Sun Bucks years.
Lee chose to increase food insecurity for 675,000 Tennessee kids so he could prove a point to the federal government.
That’s just plain wrong.
These people are vile....just plain evil. Folks forget what they do to others return back to them and their generations.
This really angers me. Why would you cut out food for children to prove a political point. I mistakenly believed that our Governor supported children's welfare! Guess I was very, very wrong about Lillian Mashburn