Gillibrand vows to include expansion of military access to SNAP benefits in Farm Bill
Mar. 30—WASHINGTON — Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand is hoping to change the rules for SNAP benefits, to make it easier for military families to receive the benefit.
She's supporting a bill that would exclude a service member's Basic Allowance for Housing payments for off-post housing from SNAP calculations. Those payments are now counted as income and must be calculated in any application for food benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
As the chair of the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Gillibrand said she intends to put the language of that bill into the 2023 Farm Bill, which is being developed now.
Nearly a quarter of U.S. service members are considered to have low food security, and Sen. Gillibrand said part of the problem comes from a difficulty in accessing benefits.
"In addition to excluding families that would otherwise be eligible, the current system is unfair specifically to service members because federal housing subsidies that civilians receive don't count against them for SNAP," she said.
The Farm Bill is a large package of legislation passed every five years setting federal policy on food programs, agricultural subsidies and pricing structures, and makes investments in research and development of new agricultural tools and methods. The last Farm Bill was passed in late 2018, and the next one is due for passage before October.
