Governor Kim Reynolds reckons she’s getting some pretty positive signals from USDA officials who are looking over Iowa’s request to redirect electronic benefits for families with kiddos who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. The Biden Administration, however, didn’t quite see eye-to-eye with the governor’s plan. They rejected it not once, but twice. The plan in question was to have the state buy healthy food in bulk and hand out grocery boxes to families during the summer months.
“Stay tuned,” Reynolds said, crossing her fingers for that waiver request to go through. She’s really grateful for Secretary Rollins and her crew for taking the time to understand each state’s unique situation. It’s a waiting game now.
During Secretary Brooke Rollins’ visit to Iowa at the end of March, she seemed pretty pumped about Reynolds’ proposal. Her team is giving it a good once-over. Reynolds mentioned yesterday that she’s hoping for some news soon. Patience is a virtue, right? The process always seems to drag on longer than expected.
Reynolds and her team are also gunning for three other waiver requests from the Trump Administration. One of them involves consolidating federal funds for various education programs into one block grant, giving Iowa the power to decide how the money gets divvied up. Education Director McKenzie Snow has been fielding questions from federal education bigwigs about the whole idea. It’s a bit of a back-and-forth, with Reynolds pushing back on some things that don’t quite align with their goals. Working closely with Secretary McMahon’s team has helped smooth things over.
President Trump’s executive order on March 20 had U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon in the hot seat, tasked with streamlining the Department of Education and handing more decision-making power back to the states. Reynolds is keeping an eye out for updates on a waiver that would allow changes to federal food benefit purchases and a plan to require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to clock in 100 hours of work per month. Seems like Congress is mulling over a similar change for all state Medicaid programs.
Reynolds is playing the waiting game on these fronts as well. It’s a lot of back-and-forth, a bit of tug-of-war with the feds. But hey, that’s politics for you. Not really sure why this matters, but it’s all part of the game. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like these things always take longer than they should.
As Reynolds and her team navigate the bureaucratic maze, they’re keeping their fingers crossed for some positive outcomes. The ball’s in the court of federal officials now. Let’s see where this rollercoaster ride takes us.
