According to an upcoming new rule, New Yorkers who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits might get their minimum monthly payment doubled.
SNAP users in New York are currently eligible to receive a minimum of $23 every month to assist with the cost of necessities like groceries. However, a new measure might establish a state-wide scheme that will boost the minimum payment by a large amount every month.
A “state SNAP minimum benefit program” was proposed by Assembly Bill A6214A and Senate Bill S7663, which were proposed in the New York legislature. 2.8 million persons in the state were SNAP-eligible in 2022, as per a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities study of Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service information.
The text of the Senate bill states: “This will provide SNAP-eligible families with an extra monthly state SNAP benefit equivalent to the amount that separates their federal SNAP monthly benefit from $95. The most vulnerable households in our state would benefit from this initiative, which would also promote their wellbeing.”
SNAP is a federal program that is funded by the federal government and managed by state and sometimes local governments, but it is accessible to those who qualify nationwide. The lowest and highest amounts that a family may get are set by the state, and each recipient’s payment is determined by their family’s size and income.
The proposals were introduced after the coronavirus epidemic ended and emergency SNAP payments were stopped. They concluded in March 2023, “leaving beneficiaries of SNAP.”
As of February 2023, the New York City Council estimates that 1.7 million individuals in the city alone were receiving SNAP benefits. About 20% of people living in New York City were SNAP participants in 2022.
Legislator Jessica González-Rojas of the assembly and state senator Rachel May are the bill’s sponsors. González-Rojas stated in an interview with Newsweek, “A recent report from the New York State Department of Health revealed that 1 in 4 New Yorkers faced food insecurity in the previous year.
During the COVID-19 pandemic’s peak, the outbreak has not decreased; rather, it has only intensified. Since nobody deserves to go hungry in a state with as many resources as ours, I proposed A6214A to raise the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program minimum payout to $100.