Starting today, about half a million North Texans are losing about $31 million each month in extra food benefits.
About 3.6 million Texans that received an extra, pandemic-related food benefit are affected by the loss of help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. For nearly three years, individuals got an extra boost of at least $95 a month.
Households that use SNAP will see about a $212 drop in their monthly benefits, according to state data.
Valerie Hawthorne, director of government relations for the North Texas Food Bank, said her organization and those that serve lower-income households expect to see a large impact from the expiration of these benefits.
Hawthorne said service organizations are encouraging benefit recipients to log into their account and find out their new benefit level.
“The most heartbreaking thing would be someone going grocery shopping with the amount of money they’ve had … since this emergency happened back in April 2020, and then get them getting to the checkout line and seeing 300 or 400 less dollars,” Hawthorne said. “That would be such a shock to somebody who didn’t know that this was happening.”
Hawthorne said she is encouraging people to be sure they are using other benefits to help them along the way.
Hawthorne said benefit recipients should contact the Department of Health and Human Services to find out what tax deductions they are eligible for, such as older Americans deducting over-the-counter medicines, hearing aids, as well as child support payments and shelter costs that exceed 50% of the income.
Nationwide about 41 million Americans are affected by the end of the boost in benefits. Congress in December passed a spending bill effectively causing the COVID-era relief to expire. The reduction follows an October cost-of-living increase after record-high inflation had some families spending hundreds of dollars more each month on food.
The end of another pandemic-related benefit comes on the heels of an expired child tax credit and universal free lunch benefits last year. With the drop in SNAP benefits, Texans will lose about $345 million in temporary aid.
The North Texas Food Bank saw at least a 17% spike in food insecurity last year, with families spending about $325 more each month on food because of inflation, according to the group’s data.
As these temporary boosts expire, House Republicans have taken aim to put federally funded SNAP benefits on the chopping block in the negotiations to reduce federal debt, including Texas lawmakers.
“We need to go back to the Clinton-era welfare-to-work reforms,” Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the leader of the House Budget Committee, said in an interview with The Washington Post.
SNAP benefits are funded as part of the farm bill that’s up for reauthorization this year. The bill falls under the House Agriculture Committee, which includes Texas Republican Reps. Ronny Jackson and Monica De La Cruz, as well as Democrat Reps. Jasmine Crockett and Greg Casar.
Reps. Jackson and De La Cruz did not respond to requests for comment on the future of federal food benefits.
Casar said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News that he’d be fighting to expand SNAP benefits as Texas has one of the largest numbers of hungry children — he even has a plan to fund it.
“Billionaire companies across Texas can afford to chip in a little bit more to make sure that Social Security can get expanded and can make sure that our SNAP benefits continue,” Casar said. “We just have to be willing, as elected officials, to stand up for our constituents that are struggling to the big companies who are going to be just fine.”
Crockett said in a statement to The News that SNAP is “a lifeline” for residents in her Texas 30th Congressional District.
“North Texans work hard,” she said. “With our state’s minimum wage as low as it is, government programs like SNAP are imperative to ensure our people can get healthy, and stay healthy. As our Secretary of Health and Human Services proudly shares, food is medicine. Without SNAP, people go without food. I’m proud to sit on the Agriculture Committee, and am working hard to ensure SNAP is reauthorized, in the best possible light, in the 2023 Farm Bill.”
About 64% of people say their family is finding it hard to make ends meet as food prices remain high, according to a survey in February by ParentsTogether Action, a nonprofit advocacy group with more than 3 million parent members.
“We keep taking things away from families that parents need,” said Ailen Arreaza, executive director of ParentsTogether. “And what we hear over and over and over again from families is that they just want to be able to care for and provide for their kids. They want to be able to provide for them and create a better future for them. And when we take away these benefits, we are making it impossible for parents to do that.”
Washington correspondent Joseph Morton contributed to this report.
