Resource Library

The Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which offers the lowest of the four major food plans the federal government uses, sets the maximum amount of food dollars Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants can receive. Despite a long overdue update of the TFP in 2021, the plan still leaves SNAP participants short of the benefit amounts sufficient for food for the entire month. This research brief explains why SNAP should switch from the TFP model to the more equitable Low-Cost Food Plan to equip participants with fuller plates and improved health and well-being.

Time limits in SNAP harm women, LGBTQIA+ people, and their families. Taking away nutrition assistance will not help women and LGBTQIA+ people find jobs any faster; it will just increase hunger. As a nation, we should fight hunger by helping families struggling to make ends meet put food on the table. Congress should increase SNAP benefits so fewer families have to choose between food and shelter or other necessities and reduce inequities in SNAP that prevent many women, LGBTQIA+ people, and their families from accessing this critical program. SNAP needs to be protected and strengthened.

FRAC’s new research brief explains the SNAP time limit provisions and discusses priorities for outreach, proper screening for time limit exemptions, and use of discretionary exemptions and waivers for areas that have 10 percent or higher unemployment or other indicators of insufficient jobs. Finally, it underscores the urgency of passing legislation to end SNAP time limits entirely.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which the U.S. Department of Agriculture administers, is the nation’s first line of defense against hunger. Without SNAP, hunger in this country would be far worse. Find the reasons why we need to urge policymakers to protect and strengthen this effective program in FRAC’s new fact sheet.

Existing rules pose extra hurdles to SNAP for most low-income college students enrolled in higher education at least half time. The Enhance Access to SNAP Act (EATS Act) would put low-income college students on an equal footing with other people eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

Older adults with low incomes and people with disabilities can receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for food purchasing. In 2020, over 5.3 million older adults, ages 60 and over, and more than 4 million people with disabilities received benefits through SNAP. Older adults and people with disabilities are also eligible to receive a deduction for their out-of-pocket medical costs through SNAP. Because high medical costs are one of the several barriers to having sufficient food to eat, older adults and people with disabilities are often made to choose between food and medicine. Learn more in FRAC’s guide. 

To better understand the impact of providing grocery benefits to families when their children lose access to free or reduced-price school meals and the experience families had in accessing benefits, the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) surveyed 153 parents and guardians who received Pandemic EBT benefits at some point during the last three years. Learn more about the survey’s findings in FRAC’s new report. 

Use this leave behind to inform your Members of Congress about the critical importance of SNAP, TEFAP, and other anti-hunger programs.

Utilize this Joint Statement by National Organizations and Farm Bill Stakeholder Groups in Support of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), signed by nearly 225 national organizations and entities, in your Farm Bill advocacy to protect and strengthen the program.

This past year, states have seen a dramatic increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program benefits reported stolen from clients electronically through “skimming” and “phishing” crimes.

Find background on skimming, details on congressional actions to address skimming thefts in the short term, and action items for state agencies in FRAC’s Skimming Fact Sheet. 

The SNAP Excess Shelter Deduction allows households applying for SNAP to claim a variety of shelter costs related to housing (such as rent, property taxes, repair costs) and utilities when determining net income. Current federal law, however, places a limit on the amount of excess shelter costs that households can claim unless one of their members is 60 or older or has a disability.

Learn how the Shelter Cap exacerbates the squeeze many families already experience between food and shelter expenses in this national fact sheet.

Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the Colorado and Vermont
Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) child care plans for school year 2021–2022 in April, a growing number
of states have been approved. So far, all of the approved plans have used the simple approach to
calculate the percentage decrease in lunch participation in the Child and Adult Care Food
Program compared to pre-pandemic levels to set a monthly benefit amount for children younger
than 6 participating in SNAP.

Congress should again protect SNAP’s structure and funding, and Congress should strengthen SNAP by adopting provisions contained in the bills listed in the attachment.

This report sheds light on the importance of the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for older adults and the positive impacts of the temporary increase in SNAP benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. SNAP — the nation’s first defense against hunger — is vital to participants’ food security, nutrition, and health, and to the economy.

The Afterschool Nutrition Programs offered an important opportunity to combat hunger during the 2020–2021 school year as communities and families continued to feel the educational, health, and economic impacts of COVID-19. Read the 2021 report to learn more.