Extra SNAP Benefits Are Ending As Lawmakers Battle Over Program That Helps Many Americans Buy聽Food
Some elderly and disabled people who live alone and on fixed incomes will see their benefits plummet from $281 to $23 a month.
Millions of Americans will find it harder to put enough food on the table starting in March 2023, after a to benefits comes to an end. Congress mandated this change in it passed in late December 2022.
are currently enrolled in this program, which the government has long used to ease hunger while .
Many families enrolled in the program, commonly known as SNAP but sometimes called food stamps, stand to .
While researching SNAP , I鈥檝e observed that this program has provided critical assistance to struggling families over the last three years. The extra benefits, which Americans can use to purchase food at the , have helped millions of people weather the pandemic鈥檚 economic fallout and high inflation rates.
SNAP Benefits Grew During The Pandemic
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and . One way that that let the states, which administer this federally funded program, expand SNAP benefits during the public health emergency.
Under this temporary arrangement, all families who were eligible for SNAP could get the maximum allowable benefit amount for the size of their household. Otherwise, that maximum amount would only be available to people with no income at all. But starting in March 2023, SNAP benefits will once again be distributed everywhere on a sliding scale based on income levels.
Some states began to drop the extra benefits in the spring of 2021. and the District of Columbia were still offering the extra help in February 2023.
A , a think tank, estimated that the extra benefits kept 4.2 million people out of poverty at the end of 2021 and had reduced overall poverty in states still offering the benefits by 9.6% and child poverty by 14%.
Although the unemployment rate has recently fallen to the , the extra SNAP benefits have continued to help low-income families deal with soaring prices that in the 12 months ending in January 2023.
With more people enrolled in the program today than before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the distribution of extra benefits, SNAP spending reached a in the 12 months that ended in September 2022.
Looming Hunger Cliff
Many have long argued that .
The Biden administration has already tried to boost them by adjusting the 鈥溾 鈥 the standard the U.S. Department of Agriculture uses to set SNAP benefits based on the cost of a budget-conscious and nutritionally adequate diet.
As a result, benefits rose an average of $36 a month, a , in October 2021. That increase more than offset the expiration of a in benefits that Congress had approved earlier that year.
SNAP benefits automatically adjust every October based on the increase in food prices in July as compared with the previous year. In 2022, they increased . But when prices are rising quickly, as is currently the case, SNAP benefits can lose a lot of ground in the months before the next adjustment.
Many say that SNAP benefits are too low to meet the needs of low-income people. They are warning of a 鈥 meaning a sharp increase in the number of people who don鈥檛 get enough nutritious food to eat 鈥 in March 2023, when the extra help ends.
At that point, the lowest-income families will lose . But some SNAP participants, such as who live alone and on fixed incomes and who only qualify for the minimum amount of help, will see their benefits plummet from $281 to $23 a month.
Most people on SNAP who get Social Security benefits will see their . That鈥檚 because of the in Social Security benefits implemented in January 2023, which increases their income and lowers the amount of nutritional assistance they can receive. And some of these Americans may even have enough income that they no longer qualify for SNAP at all.
For an average family of four on SNAP, benefits will to $718, according to an estimate by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, an anti-poverty research group.
because of higher food costs and falling donations, are . Food banks in some states that ended the emergency boost in benefits early have seen a in need.
More people on SNAP also in the states that dropped extra benefits than those that did not.
Lawmakers Poised To Resume A Longtime Fight
Several to increase SNAP benefits over the long term. But many and put more limits on who can get the program鈥檚 benefits.
Debate centers around whether unemployed adults deemed capable of working should be able to get SNAP. This argument, itself, was largely set aside during the pandemic.
Legislation enacted in early 2020 suspended a requirement that limited benefits for adults under 50 who meet the government鈥檚 definition of able-bodied and have no dependents. They can receive no more than three months of SNAP 鈥 unless they work or participate in a work-training program at least 20 hours a week.
This time limit will come back when the in May 2023.
But many critics of SNAP have argued the . A want to make a condition for raising the debt ceiling. At this point, it isn鈥檛 clear if they will succeed.
is likely to come up when Congress considers the program as part of broad food and agriculture . Congress must act to .
But with the and the , I believe it will be hard to make big changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
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