Lincoln Journal-Star. December 27, 2023.
Editorial: Show that kids really are priority in Nebraska
“I don’t believe in welfare.”
Gov. Jim Pillen made his views crystal clear in rejecting a plan to apply for a new Summer EBT program, federal grocery aid for children in low-income families this summer.
What’s less clear is what constitutes “welfare.” Clearly it’s the $120 in electronic benefits that could help feed each of roughly 150,000 children in Nebraska who are hungry or food insecure during the summer when school is out. These are children, it’s worth remembering, suffering through no fault of their own.
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Were COIVD-era $5.4 billion in Payroll Protection Program loans that helped more than 114,000 entities in Nebraska, including some associated with Pillen, welfare? Pillen-related businesses paid back about $5 million of the $7.8 million they received, the balance being forgiven under the terms of the program. The loans helped businesses and workers suffering though no fault of their own.
Pillen, like his predecessor, Pete Ricketts, touts running government like a business. Well, for the low, low price of $300,000 in administrative costs, needy Nebraskans could receive $18 million in food funding. If a CEO turned down an investment that paid $60 on every dollar invested, the company’s board would have serious questions. Pillen is Nebraska’s CEO. Nebraskans are the board.
It’s also unclear how Pillen and Ricketts arrived at the conclusion that Nebraskans — whose tax dollars are funding these federal programs — want to help residents of every other state, but not their neighbors here.
Earlier this year, Pillen wisely reversed course from a Ricketts decision to reject $120 million earmarked for rental assistance for Nebraskans. Ricketts said the money was related to COVID, and when he made his decision in spring of 2022, he argued the pandemic was over. It might’ve been for some, but the economic impact, for others, was not.
By the time Pillen accepted the money, the fund had shrunk from $120 million to $48 million, the balance being used by other people in other states.
Back in the summer of 2020 Ricketts made Nebraska the first state not to seek additional emergency food assistance related to COVID aid before rejoining the program to boost SNAP benefits in December as COVID appeared to make a resurgence.
HHS spokesman Jeff Powell said, as an alternative to the EBT money, HHS will continue to use the U.S. ag department’s Summer Food Service Program.
In an interview with the Journal Star’s Andrew Wegley last week, Pillen noted that the Summer Food Service program gets kids out into the community. “They’re at church camps. They’re at schools. They’re at 4-H. And we’ll take care of them at all of the places that they’re at,” Pillen said.
But what about the kids that aren’t “at” those places because their family circumstances don’t allow it? What will it cost the state to get those kids to where the food is? And what church camp runs all summer long? What’s the plan?
The two programs aren’t an either/or situation. In fact, they’d seem to complement each other nicely. By all means, encourage kids to get out and interact, but have a safety net for those who can’t.
If PPP loans and government subsidies aren’t welfare because they are investments, what would you call nourishing a child properly?
There is a bipartisan call to apply for the federal grocery aid before the Jan. 1 deadline. The clock is ticking, but there’s time for Pillen to act. Absent details of a better plan, this decision appears to be a political one.
Our most vulnerable Nebraskans — the ones Pillen has repeatedly pronounced as a priority — don’t deserve to be pawns in a political game.
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