The government funding package that Congress expects to pass this week includes important nutrition assistance, but policymakers don’t seem likely to agree in the near term to a comprehensive COVID-19 relief package — even with the latest data again showing that millions of adults (and many of their children) are struggling to get enough to eat, and facing significant housing hardship, which...
off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Food Need Very High Compared to Pre-Pandemic Levels, Making Relief Imperative
September 10, 2020
With millions of Americans still not getting enough to eat during the COVID-19 crisis and recession, Congress’ return gives lawmakers the opportunity to boost SNAP (food stamps) and other nutrition benefits to help Americans put food on the table and help the...
New Videos: Amid Economic Crisis, Boosting SNAP Will Make Big Difference
July 31, 2020
As policymakers negotiate a new economic relief package, boosting SNAP (food stamps) should be at the top of their list, new videos in our “SNAP Matters” series show.
SNAP is one of the nation’s most effective programs to respond to hardship and stimulate the economy during a downturn. These three new brief videos explain — as our earlier...
Boosting SNAP: Benefit Increase Would Help Children in Short and Long Term
July 30, 2020
Despite the alarming rise in the number of people, including children, who are struggling to get enough to eat, the Senate Republican proposal for the next economic relief package doesn’t...
Boosting SNAP: 5 Reasons Why Households Need More
July 13, 2020
As policymakers consider additional relief to respond to COVID-19 and the deep economic downturn, boosting SNAP benefits must be part of measures to lessen hardship and help the economy recover.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act of March included...
Boosting SNAP: Needed to Reduce Hardship, Long-Term Effects on Children
July 8, 2020
As policymakers consider what could be the last COVID-19 relief package this year, they should respond to the alarming rise in the number of children who aren’t getting enough to eat by increasing SNAP (food stamp) benefits, which would minimize COVID-19’s lasting impact on a generation of children.
Policymakers, including Senate Majority Leader...
New Videos Show Why SNAP Matters Now More Than Ever
May 21, 2020
In our new series of brief videos, SNAP (food stamp) participants, policy experts, and others describe how SNAP helps Americans weather crises — including the current health and economic crisis — by supporting workers and those temporarily unemployed,...
Heroes Act Provides Much-Needed SNAP Boost
May 18, 2020
The Heroes Act, which the House passed May 15, includes an important SNAP (food stamp) benefit increase that would help families put food on the table when many are struggling and provide stimulus for the economy when it’s most needed. We urge the Senate to quickly approve this SNAP boost.
The severe economic downturn has hit low-income households the hardest, early evidence shows, many...
Essay: SNAP’s Powerful Effects, Ways to Improve It
November 11, 2019
SNAP (food stamps) is an effective program that helps millions of Americans put food on the table, but there’s room to build upon its successes, as we write in a special issue of the American Journal of Public Health that’s focused on SNAP.
As we describe in our essay:
SNAP...
