More than eight million children in 15 states, all led by Republican governors, will be shut out of a new federal food assistance program intended to help needy families during the summer months.

Set to begin this summer, the new program will provide low-income families with $120 for each eligible child, which can be used to purchase food at grocery stores, farmers’ markets or other approved retailers when such assistance is not available in schools.

Asked why Florida did not apply for the summer food program, the state’s Department of Children and Families wrote in an email to The Orlando Sentinel last month: “We anticipate that our state’s full approach to serving children will continue to be successful this year without any additional federal programs that inherently always come with some federal strings attached.”

But he said he was heartened by the willingness of the state’s tribal nations — the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Osage — to offer the program to eligible Native and non-Native children on their reservations.

Missouri, for instance, wrote in a letter to the Agriculture Department in December that a “lack of final guidance” and the uncertainty of securing state funding posed “potential unforeseen challenges.”

Still, Caitlin Whaley, communications director for the Missouri Department of Social Services, explained: “Philosophically, we support the premise that kids should be fed in the summer, and this is an additional resource to that end.

Saved 70% of original text.