Food stamps to get their biggest boost ever, with benefits rising more than 25%

The Biden administration is overhauling food stamps by putting in place a permanent increase in grocery benefits, providing a 27% bump in aid that marks the biggest-ever increase for the program. The boost comes as a temporary increase of 15% was set to expire next month. 

The boost will go into effect on October 1 for the roughly 42 million people currently receiving food stamps, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on a conference call about the changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the official name for food stamps. On a per-person basis, benefits on average will add about $36 per month to the pre-pandemic level of about $121 per person each month, the agency said. Increasing the benefits will boost the annual cost of the program by about $19 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program.