Hello Again!
At a time when food pantries and emergency food distributions are struggling to feed families, yesterday the USDA published information on emergency, pandemic food stamp eligibility.
This was expected. (Though the actual details seem to be running a couple of weeks behind what I expected.)
The result ought to be around 250,000 additional Missourians and a half million Illinois residents getting food stamp benefits – at the maximum allocation level ($646 for a family of four, for example) over the next few weeks.
Oh yes, in the Great Recession the government did something similar but not as generous. The food stamp recipient total didn’t peak until late 2009 and early 2010, many months after the revised rules were issues.
USDA info: https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/covid-19-emergency-allotments-guidance
Glenn Koenen