Ensuring Emergency Food Security Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6181 To prevent the changing of regulations governing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to provide for expanded food security, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 2020 Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. PINGREE, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. LEE of California, and Ms. FUDGE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To prevent the changing of regulations governing the Supple- mental Nutrition Assistance Program, to provide for ex- panded food security, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Emergency 4 Food Security Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6181.IH H6181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6181 IH SEC. 2. IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF IMPLEMENTING RULE 1 CHANGES FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRI- 2 TION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 3 No Federal funds (including fees) made available for 4 any fiscal year may be used to finalize, implement, admin- 5 ister, enforce, carry out, or otherwise give effect to any 6 proposed rule that would decrease program benefits or im- 7 pact program eligibility of the Supplemental Nutrition As- 8 sistance Program. 9 SEC. 3. TEMPORARY INCREASE IN BENEFITS UNDER THE 10 SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE 11 PROGRAM. 12 (a) MAXIMUM BENEFIT INCREASE.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning the first month 14 that begins not less than 10 days after the date of 15 enactment of this Act, the value of benefits deter- 16 mined under section 8(a) of the Food and Nutrition 17 Act of 2008 and consolidated block grants for Puer- 18 to Rico and American Samoa determined under sec- 19 tion 19(a) of such Act shall be calculated using 20 113.6 percent of the June 2019 value of the thrifty 21 food plan as specified under section 3(o) of such 22 Act. 23 (2) TERMINATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6181.IH H6181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6181 IH (A) The authority provided by this sub- 1 section shall terminate after September 30, 2 2020. 3 (B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), 4 the Secretary of Agriculture may not reduce the 5 value of the maximum allotments, minimum al- 6 lotments or consolidated block grants for Puer- 7 to Rico and American Samoa below the level in 8 effect for fiscal year 2020 as a result of para- 9 graph (1). 10 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SECRETARY.—In car- 11 rying out this section, the Secretary shall— 12 (1) consider the benefit increases described in 13 subsection (a) to be a ‘‘mass change’’; 14 (2) require a simple process for States to notify 15 households of the increase in benefits; 16 (3) consider section 16(c)(3)(A) of the Food 17 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2025(c)(3)(A)) 18 to apply to any errors in the implementation of this 19 section, without regard to the 120-day limit de- 20 scribed in that section; 21 (4) disregard the additional amount of benefits 22 that a household receives as a result of this section 23 in determining the amount of over issuances under 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6181.IH H6181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6181 IH section 13 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 1 (7 U.S.C. 2022); and 2 (5) set the tolerance level for excluding small 3 errors for the purposes of section 16(c) of the Food 4 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2025(c)) at 5 $50 through September 30, 2020. 6 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—For the costs of State ad- 8 ministrative expenses associated with carrying out 9 this section and administering the Supplemental Nu- 10 trition Assistance Program established under the 11 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et 12 seq.), the Secretary shall make available 13 $145,000,000 in fiscal year 2020 and $150,000,000 14 in fiscal year 2021, of which $4,500,000 is for nec- 15 essary expenses of the Food and Nutrition Service 16 for management and oversight of the program and 17 for monitoring the integrity and evaluating the ef- 18 fects of the payments made under this section. 19 (2) TIMING FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020.—Not later 20 than 60 days after the date of enactment of this 21 Act, the Secretary shall make available to States 22 amounts for fiscal year 2020 under paragraph (1). 23 (3) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—Except as pro- 24 vided for management and oversight, funds de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6181.IH H6181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6181 IH scribed in paragraph (1) shall be made available as 1 grants to State agencies for each fiscal year as fol- 2 lows: 3 (A) Seventy-five percent of the amounts 4 available for each fiscal year shall be allocated 5 to States based on the share of each State of 6 households that participate in the Supplemental 7 Nutrition Assistance Program as reported to 8 the Department of Agriculture for the most re- 9 cent 12-month period for which data are avail- 10 able, adjusted by the Secretary (as of the date 11 of enactment) for participation in disaster pro- 12 grams under section 5(h) of the Food and Nu- 13 trition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014(h)). 14 (B) Twenty-five percent of the amounts 15 available for each fiscal year shall be allocated 16 to States based on the increase in the number 17 of households that participate in the Supple- 18 mental Nutrition Assistance Program as re- 19 ported to the Department of Agriculture over 20 the most recent 12-month period for which data 21 are available, adjusted by the Secretary (as of 22 the date of enactment) for participation in dis- 23 aster programs under section 5(h) of the Food 24 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014(h)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6181.IH H6181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6181 IH (d) FUNDING.—There are appropriated to the Sec- 1 retary out of funds of the Treasury not otherwise appro- 2 priated such sums as are necessary to carry out this sec- 3 tion. 4 SEC. 4. PROVIDING FOR THE TREATMENT OF JOBLESS 5 WORKERS. 6 (a) TREATMENT OF JOBLESS WORKERS.— 7 (1) REMAINDER OF FISCAL YEAR 2020 8 THROUGH FISCAL YEAR 2022.—Beginning with the 9 first month that begins not less than 10 days after 10 the date of enactment of this Act and for each sub- 11 sequent month through September 30, 2022, eligi- 12 bility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Pro- 13 gram benefits shall not be limited under section 14 6(o)(2) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. 15 (2) FISCAL YEAR 2023 AND THEREAFTER.—Be- 16 ginning on October 1, 2022, for the purposes of sec- 17 tion 6(o) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 18 U.S.C. 2015(o)), a State agency shall disregard any 19 period during which an individual received benefits 20 under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Pro- 21 gram prior to October 1, 2021. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6181.IH H6181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6181 IH SEC. 5. EXPANSION OF THE FOOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM 1 ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS. 2 (a) FOOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM ON INDIAN RES- 3 ERVATIONS.—For the costs relating to facility improve- 4 ments and equipment upgrades associated with the Food 5 Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, as estab- 6 lished under section 4(b) of the Food and Nutrition Act 7 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2013(b)), the Secretary shall make 8 available $5,000,000: Provided, That administrative cost- 9 sharing requirements are not applicable to funds provided 10 in accordance with this provision. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6181.IH H6181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS