INDIANA – Indiana Republican lawmakers are poised to cut off extra food stamp benefits that Hoosiers families have received through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The federal government made enhanced SNAP benefits available in the earliest days of the pandemic. The Biden administration continued extending the federal health emergency, meaning those benefits are still available to Hoosiers. Families are receiving about $85 per family.
Indiana state lawmakers are preparing legislation to help the governor end the state’s public health emergency without losing access to federal funds, including SNAP. But that legislation includes a cutoff date for the extra food stamp funds on April 16th.
That means, even if the federal government extends its health emergency again and continues to offer enhanced SNAP, Hoosiers won’t receive it.
Sen. Jean Breaux (D-Indianapolis) called that reprehensible, saying, “Families still need our help and it costs us nothing.”
