Families First allowed states to provide meal replacement benefits through SNAP, known as P-EBT, for households with children who attended a school that was closed beginning in the spring of 2020 for at least five days and who otherwise would have received free or reduced-price meals. For example, a household of three receiving the maximum benefit (all households in states that are continuing to distribute emergency allotments) saw a $42 increase in October compared to September 2021, from $782 to $835. Because the 15 percent SNAP benefit increase ended at the same time, in October 2021, households received a modest increase in their SNAP benefits. This update, which will enable the program to provide benefits that more accurately reflect the cost of a healthy diet, raised the maximum SNAP benefits by 21 percent compared to what they would have been.

Separately, and not related to the pandemic, in August 2021 USDA announced it had completed the congressionally mandated revision of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), the basis for SNAP benefits, which raised benefits for SNAP households in October 2021 (and for future years). This increase - which applied in all states and territories participating in SNAP - amounted to about $28 more in SNAP benefits per person per month, or just over $100 per month in food assistance for a family of four. In addition to these allotments, the COVID relief package enacted in December 2020 included a 15 percent increase in SNAP’s maximum benefit for January through June 2021 the American Rescue Plan Act, enacted in March 2021, extended that increase through September 2021.

Figure 1 below shows the months for which these allotments have been approved through August 2022. Households experience a significant benefit cut when these allotments end. Some states have taken steps toward ending or have ended their state COVID-related emergency declarations, and a number of states have ceased issuing allotments. The Biden Administration has stated that the federal public health emergency will remain in place through at least October 2022. USDA may approve states to provide these benefits as long as the federal government has declared a public health emergency and the state has issued an emergency or disaster declaration. The Biden Administration reversed this policy, and beginning April 2021 all households in states with these benefits have received emergency allotments of at least $95.) (Originally, a Trump Administration interpretation of this Families First policy left out the lowest-income SNAP households from these benefits when states began issuing them in March 2020. States can give SNAP households emergency supplementary benefits all states have used this option. Provide SNAP households with emergency allotments.

Benefit Enhancementsįamilies First included two ways for states to raise benefits for many SNAP participants and other households experiencing falling income and rising food needs: Families First also included a temporary boost of emergency supplementary benefits and school meal replacement benefits, which were also extended and strengthened by subsequent legislation and administrative action from the Biden Administration. In addition to provisions in the law, USDA encouraged states to use existing program flexibility to improve access to SNAP, such as by using online or telephone SNAP applications if they weren’t already, or allowing participants to stay on SNAP without reapplying for the maximum amount of time allowed under program rules. Also, Families First temporarily suspended, nationwide, SNAP’s three-month time limit on benefits for unemployed adults under age 50 without children in their home. Many of those temporary changes were extended by subsequent legislation and administrative action. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act of March 2020 gave the Agriculture Department (USDA) authority to let states temporarily modify procedures to make it easier for families to continue participating in or apply for SNAP. SNAP is essential to helping these families put food on the table. Data have shown a substantial number of families have reported difficulties affording adequate food and other basic needs at some point during the pandemic. The far-reaching health and economic effects of COVID-19 and widespread business closures to limit its spread made it even more difficult for many low-income households to afford food and other needs. SNAP has special rules and resources following natural disasters. Notes: Sometimes states use a different name for SNAP, like the Food Stamp Program, CalFresh, or food benefits.

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