P-EBT 2023: What states approved this program for this year's summer?

Publish date: 2024-06-10

A huge number of welfare and assistance programs were either adapted or created when the Covid-19 pandemic began as millions of people were plunged into financial uncertainty, as well as many other kinds of uncertainty and danger.

One program which was part of the U.S. government's response to the pandemic is the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT). The Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, as amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 provides the Secretary of Agriculture authority to approve state agency plans to administer P-EBT.

Through P-EBT, temporary emergency nutrition benefits loaded on EBT cards can be given to eligible children to purchase food. This was to pick up the slack for children who would have received free or reduced-price meals whilst they were at school. With all of the schools closing, parents suddenly had to spend a lot more money feeding their children.

What is happening with P-EBT?

It was announced by US president Joe Biden on January 30, 2023, that his administration will be ending the Covid-19 public health emergency declaration on May 11, 2023. That would mean children under six in households participating in SNAP will not be eligible for summer 2023 PEBT benefits.

That being said, children who went to an NSLP-participating school in the 2022-23 school year will be eligible for P-EBT benefits across the summer of 2023. The following states are participating through to the end of Summer 2023.

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