{"id":26939,"date":"2021-09-29T02:19:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T02:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=26939"},"modified":"2021-09-30T05:46:19","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T05:46:19","slug":"snap-benefits-are-rising-for-millions-of-americans-thanks-to-a-long-overdue-thrifty-food-plan-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/snap-benefits-are-rising-for-millions-of-americans-thanks-to-a-long-overdue-thrifty-food-plan-update\/","title":{"rendered":"SNAP benefits are rising for millions of Americans, thanks to a long-overdue \u2018Thrifty Food Plan\u2019 update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tracy Roof<\/a>, University of Richmond<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Department of Agriculture adjusts Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program<\/a> benefits to reflect changes in food prices<\/a> once a year. The government agency will take two other factors into account when it increases those benefits<\/a>, which help people buy food, on Oct. 1, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One is an unprecedented update of the Thrifty Food Plan<\/a> \u2013 an estimate of the minimum cost of groceries to meet a family\u2019s needs. That revision is behind the largest-ever permanent increase in benefits and puts a healthier diet within reach for the 42 million Americans<\/a> enrolled in SNAP, which replaced food stamps<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other change, the expiration of a temporary 15% increase in SNAP benefits<\/a> to offset some of the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic, will have the opposite effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, most households enrolled in the program will see their benefits rise from US$12 to $16 per person per month<\/a>, the USDA says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In doing the research for an upcoming book<\/a> on the history of the food stamps program, I have found that the government has often temporarily expanded nutritional assistance during tough economic times. Long-term increases in benefits, however, are unusual. And the origins of this change are quite surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/kniII\/6\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How high will SNAP benefits be?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The maximum SNAP benefit for a family of four with little or no income will rise to $835<\/a> per month. That\u2019s 21% above pre-pandemic levels after inflation is taken into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since March 2020, states, which administer this federally funded program, have been allowed to give every family eligible for SNAP the maximum amount of assistance for their household size<\/a> as emergency help during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under normal circumstances, SNAP benefits are distributed on a sliding scale<\/a> based on income levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without the emergency help, a single person might get a benefit as low as $20<\/a> a month. With it, they get $250.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This policy has given many families who would otherwise qualify for lower SNAP benefits hundreds of extra dollars a month to buy food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration did not offer emergency help to the lowest-income SNAP participants already getting the maximum benefit, but the Biden administration reversed this policy starting April 1, 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the federal government<\/a> declares an end to the public health crisis, these extra benefits will end. States can opt out sooner, and some began<\/a> to do that in the spring of 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/HWipc\/5\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the Thrifty Food Plan?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Thrifty Food Plan<\/a> is a blueprint for a budget-conscious and nutritionally adequate diet for a family of four with two kids under 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USDA relies on this standard when it sets monthly SNAP benefit amounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agency created the Thrifty Food Plan<\/a> in 1975. A replacement for a previous system developed in 1962, the plan included shopping lists of foods that were supposed to meet national dietary guidelines<\/a> and food consumption patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many experts on food insecurity and advocates for a stronger safety net have said<\/a> it didn\u2019t cover the full cost of feeding a family from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, observers argued<\/a> its assumptions regarding the time American families spend<\/a> shopping for food and preparing meals as well as what they actually eat became more and more unrealistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the old plan expected families to spend over two hours daily<\/a> preparing food from scratch and counted on them eating over five pounds of beans a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new plan<\/a> allows people getting benefits to spend more on prepared foods, vegetables and grains, as well as dairy products and other sources of protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why didn\u2019t benefits rise more in the past?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Until 2021, the USDA had updated the Thrifty Food Plan in 1983, 1999 and 2006 only to accommodate changing nutritional guidance and food preferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the USDA had never revised the Thrifty Food Plan in such a way that it would cost more, aside from inflation-related adjustments, to buy the recommended food. Therefore the government never increased the purchasing power of nutrition benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USDA acknowledged in 2006<\/a> that the Thrifty Food Plan fell short of what was needed for a nutritious diet. But it didn\u2019t revise the Thrifty Food Plan to fix that problem because the agency concluded it wasn\u2019t possible to do so without spending more on SNAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2018 farm bill<\/a> required the USDA to update the Thrifty Food Plan by studying \u201ccurrent food prices, food composition data, consumption patterns and dietary guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It called for a review to take place by 2022 and every five years thereafter. The USDA completed the review in August 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chart<\/a>
SNAP benefits will remain higher for many Americans after a pandemic-era boost ends. USDA<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What difference will the increase make?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anti-poverty advocates have long argued that SNAP benefits are too low<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in a strong economy, more than 1 in 5 SNAP recipients would use up their benefits<\/a> by the middle of the month, and 1 in 3 depleted them by the end of the third week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And 61% of SNAP recipients<\/a> said the cost of healthy food prevented them from eating better, according to USDA research released in June 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers estimate that the maximum benefit will now cover the cost of modest meals in 79% of counties<\/a>, compared with only 4% of counties<\/a> under the old formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This update to national nutrition standards could pull 2.4 million SNAP recipients out of poverty<\/a>, including more than 1 million children, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank, has estimated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did this happen?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In making this change, the Biden administration<\/a> continued with a process the Republican-controlled Congress set in motion three years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans held a majority of seats in both houses in 2018, when President Donald J. Trump signed the farm bill into law<\/a>. But it does not look like Republican lawmakers meant to make this change. In fact, Republican lawmakers, like the Trump White House<\/a>, repeatedly sought to scale back SNAP benefits<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Rep. K. Michael Conaway<\/a>, a Republican who played a pivotal role when Congress passed the bill, has said<\/a> the law was drafted under the assumption that the USDA would refrain from changes to the Thrifty Food Plan that would increase benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation\u2019s newsletter to understand the world.<\/em> Sign up today<\/a>.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican lawmakers are criticizing the SNAP benefit increases<\/a>, calling them \u201ca shameless executive branch exploitation of Congressional intent.\u201d Two GOP members of Congress have asked<\/a> a government watchdog agency to review the administration\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USDA has insisted<\/a> that data drove these changes and that complying with the farm bill\u2019s requirements made them essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without further action by Congress, future administrations will revisit the Thrifty Food Plan every five years and may again use it to adjust the amount of SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracy Roof<\/a>, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tracy Roof, University of Richmond The U.S. Department of Agriculture adjusts Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits to reflect changes in food prices once a year. The government agency will take two other factors into account when it increases those benefits, which help people buy food, on Oct. 1, 2021. One is an unprecedented update of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,277],"tags":[9176,9397,10106,4128,2240,6817,1797,2201],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26939"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26946,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26939\/revisions\/26946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}