WASHINGTON – In 2021, President Joe Biden implemented the largest permanent increase ever in federal food benefits, giving average Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients an additional $36 per person each month.
The 21% benefit increase ranks as one of the most important domestic policy changes during Biden’s first term. But it happened at a time when many safety net policies were in flux due to the coronavirus pandemic, and not much attention was paid to them.
However, Republicans took notice and are now hoping to change the law to prevent a future Democratic president from taking a similar step.
“President Biden upended four decades of history and single-handedly implemented a $256 billion increase in SNAP spending over 10 years,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) wrote in one April op-ed in which he laid out his counter-attack plan.
Thompson wants to ensure that SNAP monthly benefits can only be adjusted for inflation, without taking into account dietary guidelines or food consumption patterns, which were the reasons the Biden administration used to justify the 2021 increase. Thompson’s proposal is part of a broader “farm bill” that would make other adjustments to both food and agriculture policies.
Democrats have strongly opposed Thompson’s proposal, and it is unclear whether it could become law given Democratic control of the Senate and White House.
“As President Biden takes office, he is committed to rebuilding our economy from the bottom up and from the bottom up, so that no one is left behind.” White House spokesman Jeremy Edwards said this in a statement to HuffPost. “That’s why he took historic action to reduce hunger and give families more breathing room, including the largest-ever permanent increase in SNAP benefits, which helps families put healthy food on the table.”
More than 21 million households receive SNAP benefits, distributed to debit cards that can only be used for food purchases at grocery stores. It is one of the federal government’s largest and most responsive economic programs, and it is an ongoing subject of political debate, with Republicans pushing for stricter eligibility rules and complaining that a monthly food allowance makes poor people reluctant to enter low-wage to take jobs.
During a debate over federal spending last year, Republicans pushed for stricter “work requirements” for certain SNAP recipients over age 49, and the White House only agreed after pushing for an exception for veterans and the homeless. The resulting compromise, brokered in part through direct negotiations between Thompson and Biden, will likely lead to a net increase in benefits, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
The Biden administration’s 2021 increase in monthly benefits, meanwhile, was more significant, but occurred as several pandemic-related changes expired, which may have made it difficult for SNAP recipients to notice as the increase includes the loss of the offset one pandemic increase, but not another. , and benefits ultimately declined from their peak in 2022.
The average monthly benefit per person rose from $155 in 2019 to $230 in 2022 before reaching $188 this year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Biden’s increase was the result of an update to the Thrifty Food Plan, the government’s mathematical model of a healthy diet for a low-income family, to include more nutritious foods, including more fish, more red and orange’ vegetables such as peppers and carrots.
As SNAP allocations per person increase, the change was greatest for households with children, whose benefits averaged between $420 and $542.
“The 2021 reevaluation resulted in such a significant increase in benefits because it was catching up on nearly 50 years of benefits not being adjusted to reflect reality,” said Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in an interview. . “It may not have felt like much because this is a permanent increase and has a very significant ongoing impact on families.”
The Center for Budget estimated that the 2021 change lifted 2.4 million Americans above the government’s income-based poverty line.
Thompson said his proposal would reduce SNAP spending by about $30 billion from more than $1 trillion over 10 years.
Democrats panned Thompson’s farm bill for its change in nutrition policy.
“This farm bill makes the largest financial cuts to SNAP in 30 years, and they are doing so at a time when the need for this SNAP program is greatest to serve our American people,” said Rep. David Scott (D-Ga. ) during a committee meeting where Republicans approved Thompson’s plan last month.
Thompson and other Republicans countered that benefits would continue to rise to keep pace with inflation and that their bill would not eliminate the increase Biden had already added. Republicans have said Biden has overstepped his authority.
Thompson said at the hearing: “If the benefit is to be increased above inflation, Congress should consider and implement it.”
