This coming March, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has decided to bring back its benefits from before the COVID-19 pandemic began. This means that the current emergency allotment will be discontinued in February.
The Congress has already approved of the legislation to discontinue the current emergency allotment from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in February. This means that recipients from New Mexico and Texas will not receive any additional benefits anymore. This coming March, the recipients are expected to receive only the regular SNAP benefits like from before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
An article in NBC 24 says that the funding used for the emergency allotments will be redirected to finance an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program for students. This program will be distributing three free meals to the students every day. However, the legislation to redirect the funding has not been approved yet.
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States Affected by the Change
According to Valencia, the state of New Mexico is ranked for having the highest percentage of residents who applied for the SNAP program. An average household in New Mexico reportedly received around $536 in SNAP emergency allotments. However, effective March 1, the SNAP emergency allotments will be reduced to $277. Officials say that a household of four is expected to lose around 25% of the SNAP allotments.
The SNAP households in Texas will also be notified about the change before the emergency allotment ends. To date, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission has already provided over $344.1 million in emergency food benefits. These allotments are expected to help around 1.6 million households in Texas. Also, apart from SNAP, Texas residents can also apply for Medicaid by using the Your Texas Benefits mobile app or visiting YourTexasBenefits.com.
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