Once again, Utah officials declined congressional approved federal funding, this time to the tune of $50 million to feed Utah’s needy children.
How and why did this happen? Nate McDonald, assistant deputy of the Department of Workforce Services, asserts it would have been too complex a task in a short amount of time to get the food to children. He further claimed, “we felt confident that the need was being met,” by other programs in place.
Without providing any evidence based data to make an informed decision Mr. McDonald’s account, “we felt,” is an anecdotal statement not backed by facts. This is yet another example of Utah turning away federal funding (Utah’s tax dollars) made available to help Utah’s poorest.
Kudos to State Rep. Brian King for investigating why this happened.
Michele Stuart, Salt Lake City