FRAC Chat

This blog is the first in a two-part series on the Thrifty Food Plan. 

The monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) allotment is based on the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which was last updated in 2006. Despite that revision, research continues to show that SNAP recipients cannot afford an adequate diet with their SNAP allotment. The inadequacy of SNAP benefits severely limits the program’s ability to have even stronger positive impacts on economic security, food security, health, and well-being. SNAP benefits are inadequate, in part, because they are based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) impractical and flawed TFP.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been issuing a series of annual reports on the demographic and economic characteristics of households and individuals participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The latest report, covering fiscal year 2019, was released at the end of March and provides useful information for advocates, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The data are particularly helpful in pushing back against harmful and damaging stereotypes about SNAP participants.

Gaps in participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) leave too many eligible people without the nutrition assistance for which they are qualified. Barriers range from a lack of awareness that help is available or how to apply, to resources not being available in an accessible language, to stigma. A new memorandum from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) encourages states to prioritize SNAP outreach and application assistance, including by leveraging 50/50 federal matching funds to pay for those efforts.

June is an important month for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Each June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prices the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) — a bare-bones market basket — to calculate the maximum SNAP allotment for the upcoming federal fiscal year (which runs from October through September). USDA considers this TFP pricing in June a cost-of-living adjustment for SNAP benefits.

A recent FRAC Chat reported that the federal fiscal year 2018 SNAP eligibility-to-participation gap, or the “SNAP gap,” was around 18 percent. That means that nearly one in five individuals eligible for SNAP missed out on benefits. Now we have state-by-state data on SNAP participation rates overall and for low-income households, including those that are employed.