Braun fails Indiana's hungry, and the buck stops somewhere else

Bureaucracy is a word that is often used as an excuse. It is the bogeyman that serves as the source of mysterious and insurmountable odds preventing government from delivering the obvious good and right things to its people. Why are the streets in Indianapolis so horrible? Why is school funding seemingly always distributed unfairly? Eventually, the answers to those questions lead to the faceless phantom, known as bureaucracy. However, sometimes that phantom is identified, making accountability possible for whatever ails us. That's when we point at an actual person, the sinister "bureaucrat." On May 7th, Whitney Downard reported for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, "'A giant leap backwards': Indiana opts out of summer program for hungry schoolchildren." She reported that in 2024, Hoosier families who qualify for food benefits and reduced-price school meals got a summertime boost: $120 per child monthly for food while schools were closed. It provided that assistance to 669,000 children. What made it news earlier this month is that Indiana's participation last year, won't be repeated this year. The reason? You guessed it, bureaucracy. Downard asked "three state entities" about the withdrawal from the SUN Bucks program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including the important question: why? At that time, no reasoning was provided. I was hopeful more reporting would follow, and on May 16th, it did. Rachel Fradette reported for WFYI that in a statement from Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, that "clear direction" was needed from state leadership last year for the program to be rolled out in a timely manner. "Upon taking office, this administration quickly submitted a waiver application to the Food and Nutrition Service to explore all possible avenues for launching the program this summer…However, our review revealed that the gaps in prior preparations prevented implementation in time for Summer 2025." That's the classic blaming of bureaucracy. But there's a face here, and that face is Governor Mike Braun. Could this Trump loyalist have made a phone call to the White House? Yes. Did he?   Connect with Michael Leppert Visit michaelleppert.com to read the full post and links to any resources or articles mentioned. Twitter @michaelleppert  Facebook at Michael Leppert Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.