The U.S. Department of Agriculture has criticized Iowa's proposal to launch its own summer feeding program with federal money, saying it shows the state believes it "knows better than its own families do about what their needs are" and raising questions about whether the state's plan will be approved. Gov. KimReynoldsIA announced Thursday that Iowa will seek a waiver from the 2025 Summer EBT program. The EBT program would provide Iowa families with pre-loaded electronic benefits transfer cards that could be used to buy groceries. Instead, Iowa is seeking to use the same money it would get through the Summer EBT program — about $29 million — to set up a summer feeding program that would distribute boxes of food to families at existing sites at nonprofits, food banks, churches and other organizations around the state. Iowa's waiver application needs approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the Summer EBT program. A usdagov spokesperson issued a statement Thursday ...