Title: SNAP for Kids Act of 2018
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
SNAP for Kids Act of 2018
This bill modifies the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program) to (1) increase benefits for certain small households with children who are 5-17 years old, and (2) require benefits for the households to be calculated using the low-cost food plan.
The "low-cost food plan" is the diet required to feed a family of 4, consisting of a man and a woman 19-50 years old, a child 6-8 years old, and a child 9-11 years old, at a cost that is in the second quartile of food expenditures for those families in the United States.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2723 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2723

      To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require that 
  supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits for children be 
  calculated with reference to the cost of the low-cost food plan, as 
  determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 19, 2018

Mrs. Gillibrand (for herself, Mr. Booker, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Warren, and 
  Ms. Harris) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require that 
  supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits for children be 
  calculated with reference to the cost of the low-cost food plan, as 
  determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``SNAP for Kids Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. CALCULATION OF PROGRAM BENEFITS WITH REFERENCE TO LOW-COST FOOD 
              PLAN.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 
(7 U.S.C. 2012) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (n) through (v) as 
        subsections (o) through (w), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (m) the following:
    ``(n) Low-Cost Food Plan.--
            ``(1) In general.--The term `low-cost food plan' means the 
        diet required to feed a family of 4 persons, consisting of a 
        man and a woman 19 through 50 years old, a child 6 through 8 
        years old, and a child 9 through 11 years old, at a cost that 
        is in the second quartile of food expenditures for those 
        families in the United States, as determined by the Secretary.
            ``(2) Uniform use for small households including 
        children.--Subject to paragraph (3), the Secretary shall use 
        the cost of the diet determined under paragraph (1) as the 
        basis for uniform allotments for all small households that 
        include one or more children not less than 5 and not greater 
        than 17 years old (as determined on the first day of each 
        month), regardless of the composition of such a household.
            ``(3) Adjustments.--In determining the diet under paragraph 
        (1), the Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) make household-size adjustments (based on the 
                unrounded cost of the diet), taking into account 
                economies of scale;
                    ``(B) make cost adjustments in the diet for the 
                State of Hawaii and the urban and rural parts of the 
                State of Alaska to reflect the cost of food in the 
                State of Hawaii and urban and rural parts of the State 
                of Alaska;
                    ``(C) make cost adjustments in the separate low-
                cost food plans for Guam and the United States Virgin 
                Islands to reflect the cost of food in those States, 
                which shall not exceed the cost of food in the 50 
                States and the District of Columbia; and
                    ``(D) on October 1, 2018, and each October 1 
                thereafter--
                            ``(i) adjust the cost of the diet to 
                        reflect the cost of the diet in the preceding 
                        June; and
                            ``(ii) round the cost determined under 
                        clause (i) to the nearest lower dollar 
                        increment.''.
    (b) Value of Allotment.--Section 8 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 
2008 (7 U.S.C. 2017) is amended--
            (1) by striking the section heading and all that follows 
        through ``(a) The value'' and inserting the following:

``SEC. 8. VALUE OF ALLOTMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Determination of allotment.--Subject to paragraphs 
        (2) and (3), the value''; and
            (2) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1) (as so designated), by 
                striking ``dollar: Provided, That for households'' and 
                inserting the following: ``dollar.
            ``(2) Minimum allotment.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), for 
                a household'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2) (as so designated), by adding 
                at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Small households including children.--For a 
                household of 1 or 2 persons, not fewer than one of 
                which is a child not less than 5 and not greater than 
                17 years old (as determined on the first day of each 
                month), the minimum allotment shall be 8 percent of the 
                cost of the low-cost food plan for a household 
                containing 1 member, as determined by the Secretary 
                under section 3, rounded to the nearest whole dollar 
                increment.''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Additional allotment for certain households including 
        children.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2)(B), in 
                the case of a household that includes one or more 
                children not less than 5 and not greater than 17 years 
                old (as determined on the first day of each month), a 
                State agency shall issue an additional allotment to the 
                household in an amount (rounded to the nearest lower 
                whole dollar) equal to the sum of each of the amounts 
                determined under subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) Calculation of allotment.--The amount of an 
                additional allotment determined by the Secretary under 
                subparagraph (A) shall be an amount equal to the 
                difference (rounded to the nearest lower whole dollar) 
                between--
                            ``(i) the product obtained by multiplying--
                                    ``(I) the amount determined under 
                                paragraph (1), except by substituting 
                                `thrifty food plan' in that paragraph 
                                with `low-cost food plan'; and
                                    ``(II) the quotient obtained by 
                                dividing--
                                            ``(aa) the number of 
                                        children described in 
                                        subparagraph (A); by
                                            ``(bb) the number of 
                                        members of the household; and
                            ``(ii) the product obtained by 
                        multiplying--
                                    ``(I) the amount determined under 
                                paragraph (1); and
                                    ``(II) the quotient obtained by 
                                dividing--
                                            ``(aa) the number of 
                                        children described in 
                                        subparagraph (A); by
                                            ``(bb) the number of 
                                        members of the household.''.
    (c) Tolerance Level for Excluding Small Errors.--Section 
16(c)(1)(A)(ii) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 
2025(c)(1)(A)(ii)) is amended--
            (1) in subclause (I), by striking ``for fiscal year 2014, 
        at an amount not greater than $37'' and inserting ``for fiscal 
        year 2018, at an amount not greater than $50''; and
            (2) in subclause (II), by striking ``3(u)(4) between June 
        30, 2013'' and inserting ``3(v)(4) between June 30, 2018'';
    (d) Consolidated Block Grants for Puerto Rico and American Samoa.--
Section 19(a)(2)(A) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 
2028(a)(2)(A)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i) by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in clause (ii)--
                    (A) by striking ``each fiscal year thereafter'' and 
                inserting ``each of fiscal years 2004 through 2018'';
                    (B) by striking ``3(u)(4)'' and inserting 
                ``(3)(v)(4)''; and
                    (C) by striking the period at the end and inserting 
                a semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(iii) for fiscal year 2019, 
                        $2,011,992,716; and
                            ``(iv) subject to the availability of 
                        appropriations under section 18(a), for fiscal 
                        year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter, the 
                        amount determined under clause (iii), as 
                        adjusted by the percentage by which the thrifty 
                        plan has been adjusted under section 3(v)(4) 
                        between June 30, 2019, and June 30 of the 
                        immediately preceding fiscal year.''.
    (e) Conforming Amendment.--Section 27(a)(2) of the Food and 
Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2036(a)(2)) is amended in subparagraphs 
(C) and (E) by striking ``3(u)(4)'' each place it appears and inserting 
``3(v)(4)''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act take effect on October 
1, 2018.
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