When the Biden administration approved a $1.9 trillion support program, it was hardly an achievement, because aid still does not reach the recipients.
Millions of American low-income families are still awaiting financial assistance due to the program, which was approved by Donald Trump early last year. It’s about a mechanism that was supposed to compensate for the cost of food for children who studied at home and did not eat at school.
The program is simply bogged down in the bureaucracy, writes the American edition “Politico”. States are facing logistics challenges. The process is being dragged out by inspections of children’s right to assistance. As a consequence, almost one in two states still have not distributed money to recipients, and in the meantime, the level of child hunger in the United States is breaking records. According to statistics, every sixth family with children does not have enough money for food.
This figure is much higher than at the height of the Great Recession.
The Biden administration has tried to simplify the mechanism, but the process is still delayed. So, the USDA has not yet approved funding for California and New York. Arkansas officials did not apply for the program at all. But even in those states that have been approved by the ministry, there are delays. For example, Tennessee’s application was approved back in January, and local families are still waiting for their benefits.