FNS Documents & Resources

Welcome to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s Household Certification Training course for the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. FDPIR is a federal program that provides USDA foods to low-income households living on Indian reservations, in designated areas near reservations, and in the State of Oklahoma. FNS developed the FDPIR Household Certification Training course to help Indian Tribal Organization (ITO) and state agency certification workers and their supervisors successfully administer the program.

On Dec. 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021. This Act excludes federal pandemic unemployment compensation payments authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act from consideration as income for the purposes of determining FDPIR eligibility. 

Over the past few months, we have learned that some local offices suggest that clients withdraw their applications. The suggestion or recommendation that a client withdraw impinges on the voluntary character of a withdrawal.

On May 18, 2006, FNS published the attached final rule entitled, "Civil Rights Data Collection" in the Federal Register. The final rule implements the new racial and ethnic data collection and reporting for the Food Stamp Program to comply with the l 997 data collection standards issued by the Office of Management and Budget.

Attached is a Q&A fact sheet that answers questions and provides further guidance on the new racial/ethnic data collection and the new FNS-101 reporting. The July 31, 2006, memorandum offers further policy guidance on this regulation.

The purpose of this memo is to reiterate the importance of state compliance with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program regulations, Prisoner Verification System and Deceased Matching System.

This memorandum provides questions and answers about state online application compliance with SNAP regulations. The attachment gives clarification about compliance issues emphasized in the Online Application Review Results and Action Items memorandum issued Dec. 17, 2010.

This memorandum transmits the first set of Questions and Answers that the Program Development Division has received about excluding the special weekly $25 Unemployment Compensation payments.

The following chart clarifies what verification requirements are mandatory at initial certification and describes the program flexibility within those requirements that may help reduce workload. The chart also lists the state options that may apply to each item of eligibility that could have workload impact.

Several state agencies have recently asked FNS to approve increases in their Standard Utility Allowances (SUA’s) for heating and cooling based on projections of substantial price increases in energy sources – particularly natural gas. We are aware of broad interest in the issue of the impact of higher energy prices on household budgets and appreciate the conferences and correspondence that bring this issue to our attention.