SNAP serves approximately 42 million Americans nationwide, including millions of older adults and people living on fixed incomes who rely on the program to help cover monthly grocery costs. Rising food prices and fixed incomes already make every EBT swipe count, and this development restores flexibility in several states after a federal judge blocked certain state waivers. You now have clearer options at the store without the previous confusion over what counts as eligible.
The ruling affects waivers that had been approved in several states after a federal judge concluded the U.S. Department of Agriculture exceeded its legal authority by allowing states to redefine which foods qualify under SNAP. “The federal defendants and the states may have a genuine desire to improve the health of SNAP households by encouraging healthy choices at the store,” wrote U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. “But what they cannot do is violate the law and their own regulations along the way.”
