The program has been delayed this year due to a mix of political failure in Congress and bureaucracy in the Department of Agriculture.
As POLITICO reported last month, the vast majority of families have received no benefit from P-EBT this school year, although the money has been authorized since September. Many states have not even submitted their plans for approval to the USDA, which means that aid will be further delayed.
What’s new: This school year, families are eligible to receive up to $ 5.86 per child per day of class missed. This rate will increase by 15%. It is not clear whether the increase will be applied to the several months of benefits that are due to the majority of eligible families.
“As soon as the president took office, he called for immediate action against the hunger crisis that affects vulnerable families and children,” said Stacy Dean, Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services. food insecure children living in low-income families who are missing out on important meals due to school closings. “
More SNAP increases available: The USDA also said it will begin working with the Department of Justice to examine whether it can provide an increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments to nearly 40% of families who saw no real increase during the crisis.
Under the Trump administration, the USDA determined that it had the authority only to bring all SNAP households to the existing maximum payment levels, which meant that families that already received the maximum payments have not increased. (The Trump administration defended its position in court last year).
The USDA is also beginning to review what is known as the Economic Meal Plan, the basis for how the department defines the levels of payment that families should receive in the program.
The current plan “is out of date with the economic reality that most families face when trying to buy and prepare healthy food,” according to the department. “As a result, the benefits fall short of the costs of a healthy and adequate diet for many families.”