The federal program, set to start this summer, was approved as part of a bipartisan budget agreement in 2022.

The governors have given varying reasons for refusing to take part, from the price tag to the fact that the final details of the plan have yet to be worked out. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds ( R) said she saw no need to add money to a program that helps food-insecure youths “when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen ( R) said bluntly, “I don’t believe in welfare.”