Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefits are expected to decrease for millions of recipients as early as March due to cuts in the 2023 Omnibus spending bill. Anti-hunger advocates say the changes will accelerate the looming hunger cliff.
In 2020, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress increased SNAP benefits through emergency allotments (EAs). These EAs, issued to households in addition to their normal monthly SNAP benefits, helped to address粮食不安全率上升in the U.S.
While some states have already ended their EAs, more than half maintained the supplemental benefits into the new year. With cuts in the 2023 Omnibus spending bill, however, EAs for all SNAP recipients will come to an end, with February marking the last month that the EA benefits will be issued.
食品研究与行动中心（FRAC）的SNAP主管Ellen Vollinger告诉Food Tank，“预计EAS的损失每月将花费每月82美元。”w88优德老虎机平台
Older adults, who are typically part of smaller households and receive the minimum benefit level, will likely feel these cuts the hardest. FRAC estimates that they will see their allotments fall from US$281 to pre-pandemic levels, just US$23 per month.
Vollinger calls the cuts “premature,” pointing out that EAs were “designed to be for the duration of the pandemic health declaration.” And while the supplemental benefits are ending, the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary recently renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency, which gives the Biden-Harris administration the authority to respond to the pandemic.
This change is “coming at a time when we’re hearing, anecdotally, from emergency food providers around the country [about] how tough it is for them to keep up with the demand that they’re seeing, even toward the end of 2022,” Vollinger tells Food Tank. “There’s no way that this is not going to have a very negative impact on their purchasing power.”
非营利性估计，对于喂养美国网络提供的食品银行提供的每餐快照提供九个. And to understand the impact the cuts will have, anti-hunger advocates say they need only to look to states where EAs have already ended.
推进, a financial services technology company that builds products for low-income Americans, designed a smartphone app for SNAP participants. The free tool allows electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card holders to check their EBT balance and transaction history. Propel can also use the platform to survey its users, which they began doing on a monthly basis at the onset of the pandemic.
根据Propel的调查，2022年有45％的用户运行较低或每月不超出他们的需求。Propel的政策和合作伙伴关系负责人Stacy Taylor告诉Food Tank：“这是受访者和抢购家庭的很高比例。”w88优德老虎机平台但是，泰勒（Taylor）继续说，在早期结束EA的州中，数字跃升了7分，有52％的受访者报告说他们在本月底的运行低或不超过基本必需品。
Congress argues that the elimination of SNAP boosts isnecessaryto enable investment in child nutrition programs. The Omnibus bill will establish a new, permanent, nationwide summer program that will give families of eligible children an additional US$40 per month per child for food. It will also grant providers of summer meals greater flexibility to make meal distribution easier and increase food access.
但是，沃林格不相信这一权衡。她说：“对于将会受到影响的家庭，数学对他们并没有真正奏效。”尽管FRAC支持夏季食品计划，但她解释说，新的好处“与我们在紧急分配中谈论的美元相比，相比之下。”
州机构目前正在与SNAP家庭合作，以确保他们知道每月分配的变化即将到来。Vollinger表示，收件人要意识到扣除额也很重要 - 取决于育儿，医疗费用和其他必需品的零用费用，因此他们可以获得应有资格的全部收益。
But “it’s only a dent,” Vollinger tells Food Tank. “None of these…are sufficient to fill this really enormous gap that’s coming. And that’s why we call it a hunger cliff.”
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照片由Victoriano Izquierd提供，Unsplash
