On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This legislation provides support for American families, state governments, and communities to rebuild and respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
This memorandum implements Section 1101(b) of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which provides SNAP state agencies with administrative funding to support program administration.
In an effort to make the distribution of P-EBT benefits to eligible children as efficient as possible, USDA has developed a simple P-EBT summer plan template. The template allows states to elect a USDA-determined standard benefit that relieves states of the burden of determining their own benefit levels based on state-specific school district calendars.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 extends the temporary increase to SNAP benefit, allocates new administrative funding, and provides support for SNAP online purchasing. This document provides a summary of the SNAP provisions and other provisions that affect SNAP.
This memorandum replaces the memo issued on Dec. 28, 2020, entitled SNAP – Temporary Increase in Maximum Allotments due to COVID-19. For ease of reference, FNS is reissuing the revised maximum SNAP allotment amounts by household size for the 48 states and D.C., Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Virgin Islands.
FNS has recently been reviewing its SNAP waiver processes and procedures. This memo serves to notify SNAP state agencies that FNS is no longer approving new interest income verification waivers or extending existing waivers.
FNS is issuing this memorandum in fulfillment of the commitment made in the preamble of the SNAP: Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 final rule to provide additional guidance for state agencies on how to carry out the exclusion of certain military combat-related pay from income for purposes of SNAP eligibility determinations.
FNS is issuing this memorandum in an effort to clarify the characteristics of BBCE programs and the actions states must take to ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.
FNS offered state agencies the opportunity to test whether using Quarterly Wage Report data was sufficiently accurate to verify and project earned income in certain SNAP cases. Two state agencies, Texas and Utah, agreed to participate and run projects that ran through 2014 and 2015.
The attached questions and answers are intended to address state agency concerns about the effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on SNAP.