Will there be extra food stamps in June 2022 in California?
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has been boosted by the federal government’s emergency status which provides additional funds to states.
Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Payments (SNAP) provide an important form of financial support for households struggling to cover the cost of essentials, particularly vital with prices rising across the board and inflation pushing up grocery bills.
SNAP, also known as food stamps, is a federally funded program which is administrated at a state level. Fortunately, back in April the Biden administration extended the national covid-19 public health emergency for a further 90 days, prolonging the additional Emergency Allotment benefits for states who request the aid.
California is one of the states which is claiming the funds from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and state residents will keep receiving the extra food stamp payments throughout June.
If you’re unsure whether or not you have received the extra SNAP benefits, check out your CalFresh EBT Card balance. The Emergency Allotment benefits will be automatically added on your scheduled deposit date.
Federal extension could be crucial for struggling households
The decision to extend the public health emergency ensures that a variety of programs, not just food stamps, will continue to receive additional funding for at least another month. The declaration of a public health emergency allowed the government to utilise various funds to pay for programs protecting vulnerable Americans.
Aside from SNAP benefits, the federal government has provided hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for everything from coronavirus testing services to new telehealth options. The emergency extension was announced in mid-April, at a time when the number of new hospitalisations was lower than at any point since the pandemic first took hold in spring 2020.
Healthcare officials welcomed the decision at the time and praised the federal government for stepping in to provide support. Juliette Cubanski, a deputy director of the Kaiser Family Foundation, said that the decision had “given us a tremendous sense of security in an otherwise very insecure and uncertain time.”
She also pointed out the dangers of removing the additional support prematurely: “While we can’t live in a state of public health emergency forever, there’s still a bit of uncertainty about whether we are ready as a health care system to do without the flexibilities.”
The Department of Health and Human Services has pledged to give at least two months’ warning before allowing the emergency declaration to expire. With this in mind, and with the current period set to expire in just one month, it seems likely that another extension is in the pipeline.