Largest permanent food stamps boost is set
President orders increase of 25%
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has revised the nutrition standards of the food stamp program and prompted the largest permanent increase to benefits in the program’s history, a move that will give poor people more power to fill their grocery carts but add billions of dollars to the cost of a program that feeds 1 in 8 Americans.
Under rules to be announced Monday and put in place in October, average benefits will rise more than 25% from pre-pandemic levels. All 42 million people in the program will receive additional aid. The move does not require congressional approval, and unlike the large pandemic-era expansions, which are starting to expire, the changes are intended to last.
For at least a decade, critics of the benefits have said they were too low to provide an adequate diet. More than three-quarters of households exhaust their benefits in the first half of the monthly cycle, and researchers have linked subsequent food shortages to problems as diverse as increased hospital admissions, more school suspensions and lower SAT scores.
Under the new rules, average monthly benefits, $121 per person before the pandemic, will rise by $ 36. Although the increase may seem modest to middle-class families, proponents say it will reduce hunger, improve nutrition and lead to better health.
In an interview last week, the agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, simultaneously
PPS.PGad.qxp_Layout 1 7/30/21 described the work as a technical exercise in nutrition science and a reflection of the forces reshaping the politics of the safety net. In the middle of disease, hardship and racial disparities, he said, the $79 billion annual cost of the program helps “stabilize our democracy.”
“We may have a Constitution and a Declaration of Independence, but if we had 42 million Americans who were going hungry, really hungry, they wouldn’t be happy, and there would be political instability,” Mr. Vilsack said.
Coinciding with a large new child tax credit — which temporarily offers families with children an income guarantee — the growth in food aid comes as part of an enormous pandemic-era expansion of government assistance. Critics say the costs are unsustainable and the aid erodes Americans’ willingness to work. The new plan will raise the program’s costs by about $20 billion a year from pre-pandemic levels.
In technical terms, the Agriculture Department has revised the Thrifty Food Plan, a list of two dozen food groups the government uses to estimate the cost of an economical, nutritious diet. Its value was first set in 1962 and — other than being adjusted for inflation — had not grown since then despite a revolution in what Americans eat.
The changes are the result of a law passed in 2018 by a Republican Congress, which ordered a review of the program’s assumptions and gave the Agriculture Department four years to do it. In January, President Joe Biden urged the department to speed up the process so benefits “reflect the true cost of a basic healthy diet.”
In allowing the plan’s value to rise, officials argued
9:36 AM Page 1 they were following the 2018 law, which required new standards but did not specify whether costs should stay the same. “A majority of Republicans in the Senate and House voted for this,” Mr. Vilsack said. “They deserve credit.”
But as hints of the benefit increase spread last week, Republicans pushed back. Former Rep. Mike Conaway, a Republican and chief author of the 2018 law, said it was written “assuming the precedent of cost-neutrality would be followed” and warned the administration against “unilateral overreach.” Before the plan was even released, two Republican legislators called for a watchdog to review it.
Opponents of a benefit increase say the program is meant to supply only part — not all — of a household’s diet, as suggested by its formal name: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. They also say the aid would last longer if the needy spent it better, citing research showing nearly 10% goes to sweetened drinks.
“The data on the inadequacy of the Thrifty Food Plan is pretty weak,” said Angela Rachidi, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
To glimpse the limits of a SNAP budget, consider the challenges of Betsy Cruz, a single mother in rural Gilbert, S.C., who is new to poverty. Ms. Cruz, 58, spent nearly three decades as a government meat inspector, living a middle-class life until the worsening health of a disabled son forced her to quit and care for him. With penalties for early retirement, her income fell by three-quarters.
After enrolling in SNAP two years ago, Ms. Cruz was pleased to receive $350 a month, which seemed ample until she went to the grocery store. “Within two weeks, it was gone,” she said. “I never had to worry about it before. We always had food.”
Now, a chronic fear of running out compounds her worries, and a poor diet aggravates her son’s struggles with autism and Klinefelter syndrome, a genetic disorder that leads to violent outbursts. At 18, he weighs 300 pounds and has diabetes, but Ms. Cruz said a SNAP budget had pushed her toward cheap, filling foods like pasta that cause his blood sugar to rise.
SNAP has long played a central role in the safety net, and its importance has grown in the decades since tough welfare rules restricted cash aid. From the early 2000s to the aftermath of the Great Recession, enrollment more than doubled.
Benefits are awarded on a sliding scale. The new maximum will rise to $835 a month for a family of four, an increase of 21%. (The average benefit will rise 27% from pre-pandemic levels, adjusted for inflation.)