Abbott vetoes summer food aid program, forgoing $450M in federal funds

Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a budget line item late Sunday that would have brought in an estimated $450 million in federal dollars to fund a summer food aid program for low-income children.

In a veto statement, the third-term Republican said there’s too much uncertainty at the federal level as Congress looks to slash spending.

Summer EBT, a Biden-era U.S. Department of Agriculture program, provides families with $120 per child over the three summer months to help cover the time when students aren’t getting free meals at school. It was created by Congress in 2022, and Texas is one of a dozen states that don’t participate.

READ MORE: Texas turns down $350M in summer food assistance for children, citing lack of resources

The program is fully federally funded, but states have to put up half the administration costs. For Texas, it would have been about $60 million over the next two fiscal years. The Republican-led Legislature agreed to spend the money in the next state budget, which takes effect in September and was passed with near-unanimous support.

Celia Cole, the CEO of Feeding Texas, a network of 21 food banks that serves all 254 Texas counties, said in a statement Monday that the organization is “deeply disappointed” by Abbott’s veto. Roughly 3.8 million children in Texas would qualify for the extra meals.

“This decision comes at a time when nearly 1 in 4 children in Texas already face food insecurity,” Cole said. “Families across our state are struggling to put food on the table, and Summer EBT is a proven tool to help bridge that gap.”

The House Democratic Caucus in a statement said members were similarly disappointed.

Abbott attributed the decision to uncertainty about federal matching rates, alluding to the Trump-backed budget reconciliation bill under consideration by Congress that would dramatically slash funding for similar food assistance programs.

Also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the legislation would cut funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by about a third, the largest reduction in the food stamp program’s history, according to an estimate by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The legislation includes a reduction in the federal contribution to states’ SNAP programs by up to 25%, meaning states would have to pick up a greater share of the total cost. Policy analysts at CBPP have warned states could respond by narrowing qualifications or even canceling their programs, potentially leaving thousands of people out to dry.

The bill passed in the U.S. House on a party-line vote last month over Democrats’ objections, and is now under review in the U.S. Senate. The chamber’s parliamentarian ruled over the weekend that the SNAP cost-shifting measure would violate Senate rules.

A provision attached to the Texas budget item to create the Summer EBT program appeared to make the funding contingent on SNAP match rates remaining the same. But Houston state Rep. Armando Walle, who was among those who led the push for Texas to join the program, said it was not intended to be set up that way.

Walle had requested a letter from the state’s Legislative Budget Board to clarify that the program, which is funded separately from SNAP, should not be affected by any federal cuts to SNAP. The board, a panel of state officials and lawmakers that helps shape state spending, had not published the letter by the time Abbott released his vetoes.

Walle, state Rep. Toni Rose and Stacie Sanchez Hare, director of nonprofit No Kid Hungry Texas, wrote in a joint statement Monday that Abbott's concerns were "unfounded."

"Summer EBT matching funds are not tied to SNAP rates, and we have no reason to believe they are at risk," they wrote. "This decision has cost Texas families $450 million in benefits, a substantial loss that will have real, negative impacts on the health and well-being of our children."

The governor did not count out the possibility that the state could join Summer EBT in the future.

“Once there is more clarity about the long-term ramifications for creating such a program, the Legislature can reconsider funding this program,” Abbott wrote in his veto statement.