Clients line up outside the Mississippi Department of Employment Security WIN Job Center in Pearl, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
PHILADELPHIA (CN) — An appellate panel appeared divided Tuesday on the government’s effort to deny pandemic-related assistance to low-income households who have already maxed out food stamps.
In Pennsylvania, where the case is underway, the effort would keep emergency funding off limits to some 40% of people who get SNAP benefits, short for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The Department of Agriculture took the position last year when it was directed by Congress as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to provide states with extra money for low-income households in need of emergency assistance.