The COVID pandemic created a global health crisis and national economic downfall, requiring immediate assistance from the government to help bail people out of a wide variety of hardships. Many people struggled to make ends meet during the outbreak. Many struggled to pay their mortgage, rent, and utilities, while many found it difficult to afford food for their families. President Biden reacted quickly to people’s needs by deriving and enacting the American Rescue Plan Act bill in March of 2021. The ARP bailout bill offered immediate help to people who needed help getting their basic needs met, including those who were dealing with food insecurity.
Job Loss Increased
After a decade of economic growth and expansion, the COVID-19 virus struck and catapulted the world into an economic downturn. Job security suddenly turned to an increase in unemployment, with the rate of unemployment rising to an all-time high of 14.8%. This was a figure that hadn’t been seen since employment data began being collected in 1948.
Certain areas of employment suffered bigger losses than others. Part-time employees were one of the biggest groups of workers who were affected by layoffs. Many small business owners were forced to shut their business down. The hospitality industry suffered exponential losses during the pandemic due to the dramatic decline in travel, restaurant dining, and the closing of a variety of entertainment venues for long periods. With the higher-than-normal unemployment rates, the Emergency Rescue Program factored in the need for food subsidies for vulnerable people to reduce food insecurity and hunger across our country.
Age, Race, and Ethnicity Hardships
There have always been added hardships among certain groups of people. The aged, disabled, and people of color often face harder times when it comes to having their daily needs met. While the elderly and disabled are considered very vulnerable for obvious reasons; the black, Hispanic, and Latin Americans have also always struggled with hardships. Hardships for these groups center around equality in work and education, among other areas in life. These inequalities often lead to disparaging financial and medical situations. These groups were among the hardest-hit groups during the pandemic and were more likely to go hungry without government intervention.
SNAP Benefits
The SNAP, or Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, is a federal government-funded program that aids low-income families with food benefits each month. Those that qualify, receive an EBT card that will be refilled monthly and can be used at any store that sells food items and accepts the government card. Before COVID, the average number of recipients of SNAP benefits hovered just under 38 million. However, as the number of unemployed began to grow during the COVID outbreak, changes were made to the food benefit program through the American Rescue Plan, ensuring more people were able to get proper nutrition and food. By September 2020, the number of recipients had increased to over 43 million.
How the ARP Used SNAP to Reduce Food Insecurity
The government restructured the SNAP program under the new ARP bill, adding $12 billion worth of extra provisions for people in need. The new provisions included:
Increase in state funding
For each state to meet the food and nutritional demands of their state SNAP program, the federal government increased the amount it allocated to each state for administrative costs to offset the burden each state was feeling due to the increase in enrollees in the SNAP benefits program.
An increase in benefits
Once the ARP was signed into law, those receiving SNAP benefits saw a temporary increase in their benefit amount. Every low-income household received a 15% increase in their monthly benefit amount that was good until the end of September 2021 when it expired.
The pandemic EBT or (P-EBT) for kids
Many school-aged kids get one or more meals from school, however, due to school closings and kids forced to learn from home, many kids needed to eat all their meals at home. To offset the disruption in meal structure for these kids, primarily during the summer months, the P-EBT program allowed students to get grocery items while school lunch programs were unavailable. The plan was for food benefit cards to be issued to households of students who were already qualified for low-cost school meals. The amount they’d normally receive for school meals was subsequently transferred to the cards instead, during the pandemic’s mandatory at-home learning months.
The Women, Infants, and Children program
The (WIC) program got a boost with its benefits. The program was updated, and new support systems were introduced, as well as an increase in the amount of certain foods that could be obtained by participants; primarily, fruits and vegetables.
A boost to U.S. territory SNAP programs
The ARP didn’t forget about our neighboring U.S. territories when it came to food and hardship relief. Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and our other U.S. territories were also considered and provided food benefits during the pandemic, under the ARP Act.
The American Rescue Plan was the immediate response to the hardship of our country during the pandemic. Millions of people were already facing hardships and living at the poverty level before the pandemic. Once the pandemic took hold in the spring of 2020, the number of people reporting hard times and lack of food in their homes tripled and rose again by fall and winter.
To this day, the number of people still receiving SNAP benefits supersedes that of pre-pandemic years, with the number being close to 41 million as of last April. Of course, the goal is to get as many people as possible back to work and not have to rely on the government for their food and nutrition. But the important takeaway is the ARP came to millions of people’s rescue during unforeseen times and reduced the food insecurity crisis in our country.
The COVID pandemic created a global health crisis and national economic downfall, requiring immediate assistance from the government to help bail people out of a wide variety of hardships. Many people struggled to make ends meet during the outbreak. Many struggled to pay their mortgage, rent, and utilities, while many found it difficult to afford food for their families. President Biden reacted quickly to people’s needs by deriving and enacting the American Rescue Plan Act bill in March of 2021. The ARP bailout bill offered immediate help to people who needed help getting their basic needs met, including those who were dealing with food insecurity.
Job Loss Increased
After a decade of economic growth and expansion, the COVID-19 virus struck and catapulted the world into an economic downturn. Job security suddenly turned to an increase in unemployment, with the rate of unemployment rising to an all-time high of 14.8%. This was a figure that hadn’t been seen since employment data began being collected in 1948.
Certain areas of employment suffered bigger losses than others. Part-time employees were one of the biggest groups of workers who were affected by layoffs. Many small business owners were forced to shut their business down. The hospitality industry suffered exponential losses during the pandemic due to the dramatic decline in travel, restaurant dining, and the closing of a variety of entertainment venues for long periods. With the higher-than-normal unemployment rates, the Emergency Rescue Program factored in the need for food subsidies for vulnerable people to reduce food insecurity and hunger across our country.
Age, Race, and Ethnicity Hardships
There have always been added hardships among certain groups of people. The aged, disabled, and people of color often face harder times when it comes to having their daily needs met. While the elderly and disabled are considered very vulnerable for obvious reasons; the black, Hispanic, and Latin Americans have also always struggled with hardships. Hardships for these groups center around equality in work and education, among other areas in life. These inequalities often lead to disparaging financial and medical situations. These groups were among the hardest-hit groups during the pandemic and were more likely to go hungry without government intervention.
SNAP Benefits
The SNAP, or Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, is a federal government-funded program that aids low-income families with food benefits each month. Those that qualify, receive an EBT card that will be refilled monthly and can be used at any store that sells food items and accepts the government card. Before COVID, the average number of recipients of SNAP benefits hovered just under 38 million. However, as the number of unemployed began to grow during the COVID outbreak, changes were made to the food benefit program through the American Rescue Plan, ensuring more people were able to get proper nutrition and food. By September 2020, the number of recipients had increased to over 43 million.
How the ARP Used SNAP to Reduce Food Insecurity
The government restructured the SNAP program under the new ARP bill, adding $12 billion worth of extra provisions for people in need. The new provisions included:
Increase in state funding
For each state to meet the food and nutritional demands of their state SNAP program, the federal government increased the amount it allocated to each state for administrative costs to offset the burden each state was feeling due to the increase in enrollees in the SNAP benefits program.
An increase in benefits
Once the ARP was signed into law, those receiving SNAP benefits saw a temporary increase in their benefit amount. Every low-income household received a 15% increase in their monthly benefit amount that was good until the end of September 2021 when it expired.
The pandemic EBT or (P-EBT) for kids
Many school-aged kids get one or more meals from school, however, due to school closings and kids forced to learn from home, many kids needed to eat all their meals at home. To offset the disruption in meal structure for these kids, primarily during the summer months, the P-EBT program allowed students to get grocery items while school lunch programs were unavailable. The plan was for food benefit cards to be issued to households of students who were already qualified for low-cost school meals. The amount they’d normally receive for school meals was subsequently transferred to the cards instead, during the pandemic’s mandatory at-home learning months.
The Women, Infants, and Children program
The (WIC) program got a boost with its benefits. The program was updated, and new support systems were introduced, as well as an increase in the amount of certain foods that could be obtained by participants; primarily, fruits and vegetables.
A boost to U.S. territory SNAP programs
The ARP didn’t forget about our neighboring U.S. territories when it came to food and hardship relief. Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and our other U.S. territories were also considered and provided food benefits during the pandemic, under the ARP Act.
The American Rescue Plan was the immediate response to the hardship of our country during the pandemic. Millions of people were already facing hardships and living at the poverty level before the pandemic. Once the pandemic took hold in the spring of 2020, the number of people reporting hard times and lack of food in their homes tripled and rose again by fall and winter.
To this day, the number of people still receiving SNAP benefits supersedes that of pre-pandemic years, with the number being close to 41 million as of last April. Of course, the goal is to get as many people as possible back to work and not have to rely on the government for their food and nutrition. But the important takeaway is the ARP came to millions of people’s rescue during unforeseen times and reduced the food insecurity crisis in our country.
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