WASHINGTON – The Biden administration has approved a significant and permanent increase in the levels of food stamp assistance available to needy families — the largest single increase in the program’s history.
Starting in October, average benefits for food stamps — officially known as the SNAP program — will rise more than 25 percent above pre-pandemic levels. The increased assistance will be available indefinitely to all 42 million SNAP beneficiaries.
Recommended Videos
[TRENDING: Death toll from Haiti earthquake nears 1,300 | US mulls COVID vaccine boosters for elderly | Here’s where Fla. unemployment accounts stand after PIN resets]
The aid boost was first reported by The New York Times and the details were confirmed by a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department. They will be formally announced Monday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The aid boost is being packaged as a major revision of the USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan. In concrete terms, the average monthly per-person benefits will rise from $121 to $157.
The increase is part of a multi-pronged Biden administration effort to strengthen the country's social safety net. Poverty and food security activists maintain that longstanding inadequacies in that safety net were laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting an opportunity to make generational improvements that reach beyond the current public health crisis.
Activists say the previous levels of pre-pandemic SNAP assistance simply weren't enough, forcing many households to choose cheaper, less nutritious options or simply go hungry as the funds ran low toward the end of the month.