Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock and Rep. Lucy McBath led colleagues from Georgia’s congressional delegation in a letter to Governor Brian Kemp urging immediate action to feed vulnerable GA kids next summer
More than 1.1 million low-income children in Georgia are eligible for the Summer EBT program administrated by USDA
In 2024, Gov. Kemp left over $138 million in summer nutrition benefits unclaimed
2025 is the second consecutive year Georgia has not participated in the program
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA), alongside Representatives Lucy McBath (D-GA-06), Hank Johnson (D-GA-04), David Scott (D-GA-13) Sanford Bishop (D-GA-02) and Nikema Williams (D-GA-05) urged Governor Brian Kemp to ensure vulnerable Georgia children can access nutritious food by opting into the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Summer EBT nutrition program for 2026. The move could help feed more than 1.1 million low-income children in Georgia next summer.
“Summer EBT would provide the poorest children and families with a $40 benefit per eligible child per month, totaling $120 dollars for the summer. Of the roughly 2.8 million children in Georgia, over 40% of them are eligible for this benefit but are prevented from participating due to your continued decision to not participate in the program. Committing to participate in Summer EBT is a basic step to ensuring that every child in our state, regardless of where they live or how much money their parents make, has access to the basic necessity of food when they are not in school,” the delegation said.
Summer is often the most challenging season for food insecure kids across the country, as millions of kids that rely on the federal school lunch program during the academic year are forced to go without regular access to nutritious meals. USDA’s Summer EBT program, also known as SUN Bucks, helps low-income families bridge the gap by providing $40 in grocery buying benefits per eligible child, totaling $120 for the summer months. Since its inception in 2024, Gov. Kemp has refused to opt Georgia into the USDA summer nutrition program. Nearly a quarter of Georgia students live in households without enough food, making Georgia one of the most food insecure states for children in the country.
The lawmakers’ letter to Governor Kemp comes at a time when impending cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) outlined in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill may make accessing free and reduced-price school meals harder for the low-income students who need them. Cuts to these federal programs will leave millions of low-income Americans without some or all of the food assistance they need to put meals on the table. In Georgia, over 1.4 million people rely on the SNAP program and over 77% of Georgia counties with the highest rates of SNAP participation are rural.
Senator Warnock has long fought for continued federal support of food assistance programs like SNAP and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) which provides federal funds for food banks and other emergency food providers. In March, Senator Warnock led his Senate colleagues in urging the Trump administration to reconsider cuts to the TEFAP program, which could result in $500 million in lost food provisions to feed millions of hungry Americans.
Read full text of the letter HERE and below:
Governor Kemp,
We write to you again to request your commitment to Georgia’s participation in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Summer EBT program.
This month marks the end of the second consecutive year that you have refused to participate in USDA’s Summer EBT program despite the overwhelming rates of hunger and food insecurity across our state. Additionally, your office never responded to either of our letters requesting that Georgia participate in Summer EBT in 2025 nor did your office provide families in our state with more information on how you came to the decision to not participate.
As mentioned in previous letters, Summer EBT would provide the poorest children and families with a $40 benefit per eligible child per month, totaling $120 dollars for the summer. Of the roughly 2.8 million children in Georgia, over 40% of them are eligible for this benefit but are prevented from participating due to your continued decision to not participate in the program.
Committing to participate in Summer EBT is a basic step to ensuring that every child in our state, regardless of where they live or how much money their parents make, has access to the basic necessity of food when they are not in school.
Children in Georgia again went without consistent access to food this summer. A May 2025 newsletter from Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning stated that only 103 of Georgia’s 159 counties had a Summer Food Service Program meal site in 2024 and identified 56 counties without a meal site. Participating in Summer EBT will help bridge that gap and ensure that families have an effective resource to rely on while the state continues to make progress on its self-stated goal to expand meal sites to every county.
This matter takes on another level of importance given the impending cuts to Medicaid and SNAP as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Because of these cuts, children will lose access to free and reduced priced school meals. Families in Georgia also needlessly face increased food insecurity during the summertime due to your refusal to participate in Summer EBT.
We again ask that you commit to participating in the summer of 2026 and submit Georgia’s Interim Plan for Operations and Management (iPOM) no later than August 15, 2025, and the appropriate Notice of Intent (NOI) to participate no later than January 1, 2026, to USDA for consideration and approval. We encourage you to engage in good faith on this issue and submit all appropriate materials as soon as possible.
We look forward to your response.
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