SNAP benefits returning to pre-COVID amounts in February

The additional food assistance benefits put into place during the COVID-19 pandemic will finish nationwide in February, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service.

The massive image: After virtually three years, the quantity of assist offered to low-income households to fight meals insecurity by means of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will return to pre-pandemic ranges.

• The emergency allotments allowed SNAP households to obtain a further $95 or extra in benefits.

Details: The emergency allotments have already ended in 17 states, together with Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

• In South Carolina, the emergency allotments will expire after the January fee is issued.
• For the remaining 32 states, plus Washington D.C., Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the additional funding will finish with the March profit.

By the numbers: More than 41 million Americans used SNAP benefits in 2022, USDA data exhibits.

Zoom in: The change will undoubtedly impression many Americans, together with in Oklahoma, one of many states the place the supplemental benefits are set to expire.

• “We know that these elevated benefits have been essential to so many Oklahomans during the last three years and that this variation will impression some SNAP customers tougher than others, significantly our senior and disabled neighbors,” Chris Bernard, President/CEO of Hunger Free Oklahoma, mentioned per The Hill.
• “Undoubtedly, it will create an elevated demand on our charitable organizations throughout the state and an elevated want for Oklahomans to assist their native meals pantries and meals banks.”

Go deeper: Iowa lawmakers back off severely restricting SNAP eligible foods