FRAC Chat

During COVID-19, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has had enhanced authority from Congress to grant state SNAP agencies greater flexibility on enrollment procedures. In new policy guidance, FNS has clarified that, even after the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration (PHE) and its enhanced authority ends, it can use its normal waiver authority to approve requests for continuation of some of those workarounds. 

The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) released a new report, Pandemic EBT: Recommendations for a Permanent Nationwide Summer EBT Program, which used responses collected from a survey of state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program agencies about the summer 2021 Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) Program to identify and synthesize lessons learned from implementation to inform policy and best practices.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) maximum allotments will increase in fiscal year (FY) 2023, but fall short of the amounts needed for adequate diets, according to a Food Research & Action Center analysis. The cost-of-living adjustments, announced by U.S. Department of Agriculture in August 2022, reflect the pricing of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) market basket in June 2022. Given the impact of inflation in recent months, the maximum benefit for four-person SNAP households with the lowest incomes will increase from $835 to $939, but still will be $75 below the level calibrated to the more realistic Low-Cost Food Plan.

Summertime is perfect for warm weather, outdoor adventures, and plenty of sunshine! It’s also an opportunity to celebrate the importance of local food procurement and agriculture-based nutrition education in child nutrition programs on Farm to Summer Day, August 9, in Washington, D.C.

New Urban Institute research shows that, compared to not having the benefit expansions, the combination of the fall 2021 Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) update and the provision of temporary Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Emergency Allotments (EAs) reduced poverty in quarter four of 2021 by 14.1 percent and child poverty by 21.8 percent.

The findings underscore the importance of policy decisions on people’s lives. Much weaker impacts were estimated for states that had decided to stop issuing EAs by the fall of 2021. Unless Congress takes further action, all SNAP EAs will end when the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration expires.