The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) emergency allotments (EAs) — temporary benefit increases that Congress enacted to address rising food insecurity and provide economic stimulus during the COVID-19 pandemic — will end after February 2023 issuances. This will result in a benefit cut for every SNAP household in the jurisdictions that still are paying EAs ― 32 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.[1] Every household in those states will receive at least $95 a month less; some households, who under regular SNAP rules receive low benefits because they have somewhat higher, but still modest incomes, will see reductions of $250 a month or more. The average person will receive about $90 a month less in SNAP benefits.[2]

The temporary benefits pushed back against hunger and hardship during COVID. A study estimated that EAs kept 4.2 million people above the poverty line in the last quarter of 2021, reducing poverty by 10 percent ― and child poverty by 14 percent ― in states with EAs at the time. The estimated reduction in poverty rates due to EAs was highest for Black and Latino people.[3]

The end of the temporary EAs will be a significant change that will increase food hardship for many individuals and families, given the modest amount of basic SNAP benefits and high recent inflation in food prices. Without the EAs, SNAP benefits will average only about $6.10 per person per day in 2023. That average daily benefit is about $1.35 higher per person per day this year than it would have been as a result of the recent adjustment to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which is the basis of SNAP benefits. The Agriculture Department (USDA) adjusted the TFP, effective in fiscal year 2022, under a congressional mandate to reevaluate it; the resulting TFP better aligns SNAP benefits with the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet.[4]

Read the full article about the end of pandemic SNAP benefits by Dottie Rosenbaum, Katie Bergh, and Lauren Hall at Center on Policy and Budget Priorities.