The Biden administration extended the Covid-19 public health emergency on Wednesday, keeping increased nutrition benefits for millions of families in place for the coming months.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra renewed the emergency for 90 days, until mid-July. Waivers tied to the public health emergency, which began in January 2020, have allowed the USDA to significantly, if temporarily, boost SNAP recipients’ benefits. These extra funds, called emergency allotments, amount to about $82 per person monthly. In February, the most recent month for which data are available, the USDA issued $2.8 billion in emergency allotments to 15 million households. More than 41 million people receive SNAP benefits.
As FERN recently reported, a growing number of states are ending their official pandemic emergencies without putting into place a narrower emergency declaration that would let them keep getting extra benefits from the federal government. So far, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming have discontinued emergency allotments, fueling concerns that food insecurity will rise as a result.
The Covid-19 SNAP waivers linked to the state of emergency have also expanded SNAP recipients’ ability to use their benefits online, allowed states to provide Pandemic EBT to children who normally get free or reduced-priced meals, and suspended limits on how long able-bodied adults without dependents can receive SNAP.
The extension also means that waivers to rules that govern the Women, Infants, and Children program, such as the ability for families to be certified for benefits remotely instead of in person, remain in place.
The Department of Health and Human Services has committed to giving the public 60 days’ notice before ending the public health emergency.