{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-cohen-urges-governor-lee-seek-millions-summer-food", "Congressman Cohen Urges Governor Lee to Seek Millions in Summer Food Assistance for Children by Thursday\u2019s Deadline", "2025-12-29", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Steve Cohen", "C001068", "cohen.house.gov", "cohen", "https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "MEMPHIS \u2013 Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) tonight wrote Governor Bill Lee a letter urging him to have the State of Tennessee apply for Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) funding for a Summer U.S. Agriculture Food Assistance Program for an estimated 700,000 children and not fail to apply for it as he did last year.\n\nThe U.S. Depart\u00adment of Agri\u00adcul\u00adture\u2019s Sum\u00admer EBT pro\u00adgram provides $120 in food bene\u00adfits to sup\u00adport school-aged chil\u00addren who don\u2019t have access to free or low-cost school meals dur\u00ading sum\u00admer months.\n\nThe letter reads in part:\n\n\u201cI concur with Senate Democratic Caucus Chair London Lamar and urge you to direct the Tennessee Department of Human Services to notify the U.S. Department of Agriculture of its intent to apply to the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer Program for Children (Summer EBT) before the deadline of January 1, 2026.\n\n\u201cI wrote to you last year urging you to apply for these benefits. You chose not to, and the state instead ran its own program that cost much more to feed far fewer children. The state program fed 18,000 children and only reached 15 rural counties, while Summer EBT would have fed nearly 700,000 children and reached all 95 counties.\n\n\u201cAs you know, grocery prices are up tremendously. It is concerning you would turn down nearly $84 million meant to feed hungry children at a time when affordability should be the first issue on all our agendas.\n\n\u201cI hope you will decide to apply for these important funds. There is no good reason to turn down aid for hungry children.\u201d\n\nSee the letter here.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-cohen-urges-governor-lee-seek-millions-summer-food"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9172090105712414, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}