SNAP increase helped lift nearly 3 million people out of poverty: analysis

Nearly 3 million people were kept out of poverty after Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits saw a boost under the Biden administration, researchers at the Urban Institute found.

An analysis released by the think tank this week said that SNAP benefits rose by 21 percent from 2021 after the Biden administration’s reevaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which is used to determine benefit amounts for the program.

Not accounting for the influence of other pandemic-era efforts, the analysis found that the adjustment helped lift 2.9 million people out of poverty and reduced “poverty by 4.6 percent in 2021.”

Child poverty also declined due to the higher benefits, the analysis found, noting a reduction in “the number of children living in poverty by 7.6 percent nationally, or 1.3 million children.”

Researchers said the higher SNAP benefits yielded significant results in places like Alabama, Washington, D.C., Oklahoma, Rhode Island and West Virginia, where the report noted “increased benefits reduced the number of people living in poverty by over 8 percent.”

A closer look at the numbers also showed the number of children in poverty dropped between 10 and 14 percent in 13 states, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina and Ohio.

“The District of Columbia saw the greatest child poverty reduction, a reduction of more than one-third,” the analysis stated.

The analysis comes as advocates and Democrats have raised the alarm over potential SNAP cuts as Republicans ramp up work on a massive tax cuts package that conservatives hope will also include well north of $1 trillion in spending cuts. 

The specifics are still unknown as to what will make the cut in the coming plan, as Republicans prepare for a series of markups upon Congress’s scheduled return from recess next week in efforts to begin crafting the tax bill.

However, a blueprint for the plan approved by congressional Republicans earlier this month included instructions on the House side for its agriculture committee, which has jurisdiction over SNAP and other food and nutrition programs, to find more than $200 billion in cuts.