More than 140,000 D.C. residents who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will begin getting extra money for food starting next month.
Last March, families saw their benefits decrease after federal pandemic relief funding ran out. To fill that gap, the D.C. Council passed legislation that requires the mayor to use about $38 million to increase those benefits by 10% for nine months if the District had a budget surplus. The District did end the last fiscal year with a surplus, but Mayor Muriel Bowser did not initially agree to use the surplus for SNAP — commonly known as food stamps — until just before the organization Legal Aid DC planned to file a lawsuit to get the city to comply with the law.
Now, the Bowser administration announced the increased payments would begin in February and be retroactive to January. Additional money for January and February will show Up on SNAP recipients' EBT cards Feb. 23.
Bowser has said there are more urgent needs for the money, such as housing. She said she shouldn’t have signed the law.
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The average monthly SNAP benefit is about $188, so the increase will be about $18 per month per person.
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