A bipartisan Senate coronavirus relief package would increase SNAP benefits by 15 percent through April and provide additional funding for WIC and food donations to food banks, according to a summary released on Wednesday. An additional $13 billion would be available for “Covid-related impacts on farmers, ranchers, growers, and rural communities.”
The $908 billion proposal was offered as a compromise in the face of the impending expiration of a variety of coronavirus relief programs. Congressional leaders have said that coronavirus aid might be part of a must-pass government funding bill this month. The package includes a temporary, $300-a-week federal supplement to jobless benefits, said CNBC.
Although the summary is more extensive than the list of bullet points released last week, many details remain unresolved. For example, while the section on agricultural aid calls at least $13.6 billion in spending, it runs only five lines. There is no dollar estimate of outlays for nutrition.
Besides the four-month run of higher SNAP benefits, the summary says the Pandemic EBT program, now covering school-age children, would expand to cover children in childcare. WIC benefits would be increased temporarily to allow participants to buy additional fruits and vegetables. Food assistance would be provided to U.S. territories not served by SNAP — Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Trump administration repeatedly rejected previous proposals for a temporary increase in SNAP benefits. There was no mention in the summary of the bipartisan package of new funding for the food box giveaway program that is the administration’s preferred response to hunger during the pandemic.
The six-page summary of the coronavirus package is available here.