Section 10101: Re-Evaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan

📘 Section 10101: Re-Evaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan

🧠 What is the 

Thrifty Food Plan

?


It’s like a shopping list the government uses to figure out how much money people need to buy groceries each month if they’re getting help through SNAP (also known as food stamps).

📝 What does this section say?


This part of the law says:


“The Secretary of Agriculture may not use any re-evaluation of the thrifty food plan… unless the plan is cost-neutral.”


Let’s make that easier to understand:

✅ In 4th Grade Language:


👉 The government can’t change the grocery list used for food stamps (SNAP) in a way that makes it more expensive, unless they find a way to not spend extra money overall.

💡 Why is this important?


A few years ago, the USDA updated the Thrifty Food Plan to give more money to people on SNAP, because groceries cost more than they used to. But some people in Congress said that made the program cost too much.


Now, with this new law:

  • They are saying “you can’t update the plan again unless it doesn’t cost extra.”

🧃 Quick Example:


Imagine your school gave you $2 to buy lunch based on a menu.

If the lunch plan changes and now it costs $3, the school says:


“Wait! You can only change the lunch plan if it still costs $2.”


That’s what this law is doing with food stamps.


Original Document:

SEC. 10101. RE-EVALUATION OF THRIFTY FOOD PLAN.

    (a) In General.--Section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 
U.S.C. 2012) is amended by striking subsection (u) and inserting the 
following:
    ``(u) Thrifty Food Plan.--
            ``(1) In general.--The term `thrifty food plan' means the 
        diet required to feed a family of 4 persons consisting of a man 
        and a woman ages 20 through 50, a child ages 6 through 8, and a 
        child ages 9 through 11 using the items and quantities of food 
        described in the report of the Department of Agriculture 
        entitled `Thrifty Food Plan, 2021', and each successor report 
        updated pursuant to this subsection, subject to the conditions 
        that--
                    ``(A) the relevant market baskets of the thrifty 
                food plan shall only be changed pursuant to paragraph 
                (4);
                    ``(B) the cost of the thrifty food plan shall be 
                the basis for uniform allotments for all households, 
                regardless of the actual composition of the household; 
                and
                    ``(C) the cost of the thrifty food plan may only be 
                adjusted in accordance with this subsection.
            ``(2) Household adjustments.--The Secretary shall make 
        household adjustments using the following ratios of household 
        size as a percentage of the maximum 4-person allotment:
                    ``(A) For a 1-person household, 30 percent.
                    ``(B) For a 2-person household, 55 percent.
                    ``(C) For a 3-person household, 79 percent.
                    ``(D) For a 4-person household, 100 percent.
                    ``(E) For a 5-person household, 119 percent.
                    ``(F) For a 6-person household, 143 percent.
                    ``(G) For a 7-person household, 158 percent.
                    ``(H) For an 8-person household, 180 percent.
                    ``(I) For a household of 9 persons or more, an 
                additional 22 percent per person, which additional 
                percentage shall not total more than 200 percent.
            ``(3) Allowable cost adjustments.--The Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) make cost adjustments in the thrifty food 
                plan for Hawaii and the urban and rural parts of Alaska 
                to reflect the cost of food in Hawaii and urban and 
                rural Alaska;
                    ``(B) make cost adjustments in the separate thrifty 
                food plans for Guam and the Virgin Islands of the 
                United States to reflect the cost of food in those 
                States, but not to exceed the cost of food in the 50 
                States and the District of Columbia; and
                    ``(C) on October 1, 2025, and on each October 1 
                thereafter, adjust the cost of the thrifty food plan to 
                reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index for All 
                Urban Consumers, published by the Bureau of Labor 
                Statistics of the Department of Labor, for the most 
                recent 12-month period ending in June.
            ``(4) Re-evaluation of market baskets.--
                    ``(A) Re-evaluation.--Not earlier than October 1, 
                2027, the Secretary may re-evaluate the market baskets 
                of the thrifty food plan based on current food prices, 
                food composition data, consumption patterns, and 
                dietary guidance.
                    ``(B) Cost neutrality.--The Secretary shall not 
                increase the cost of the thrifty food plan based on a 
                re-evaluation under this paragraph.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 16(c)(1)(A)(ii)(II) of the Food and Nutrition 
        Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2025(c)(1)(A)(ii)(II)) is amended by 
        striking ``section 3(u)(4)'' and inserting ``section 3(u)(3)''.
            (2) Section 19(a)(2)(A)(ii) of the Food and Nutrition Act 
        of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2028(a)(2)(A)(ii)) is amended by striking 
        ``section 3(u)(4)'' and inserting ``section 3(u)(3)''.
            (3) Section 27(a)(2) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 
        (7 U.S.C. 2036(a)(2))) is amended by striking ``section 
        3(u)(4)'' each place it appears and inserting ``section 
        3(u)(3)''.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Section 10313: Dairy Policy Updates

Image
🥛 Section 10313: Dairy Policy Updates — In Simple Terms This part of the law is about helping dairy farmers—the people who raise cows and sell milk. It makes some changes to how the government helps them through a program called Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC), which gives money to farmers when it costs more to make milk than they get paid for selling it. Here’s what the changes mean: 1. 🐄 Milk History Update Before, a farm’s help was based only on how much milk it sold the year it first signed up. Now, they can choose the year (2021, 2022, or 2023) when they sold the most milk to get more help. If a new farm just started, they can: • Either guess their full-year milk sales based on the milk they’ve already sold, • Or use the size of their herd (how many cows) to estimate how much milk they’ll make. 2. 💰 More Coverage Before, farmers got cheaper help for their first 5 million pounds of milk. Now, that’s raised to 6 million pounds, which means more milk gets better help. 3. 📉 Di...
Read more

Section 10503: Administrative and Operating Expense Adjustment

Image
🧾 Section 10503: Help for Insurance Companies That Help Farmers Farmers buy crop insurance to protect themselves if their crops are damaged by things like bad weather, pests, or disease. This law is about making sure the insurance companies that provide this protection get extra help too. 🪙 1. Extra Money for Doing More Work • Starting in 2026, insurance companies will get extra money (6% of the cost of the policy) to help pay for the people who check crop damage and figure out payments to farmers. 📍 2. Only Certain States and Policies This extra help only applies to: • States where lots of farmers lost crops (over 120% loss). • Normal insurance plans (not cheap emergency ones or group-based ones). • Policies where the company actually does work to check losses. 🍓 3. Support for Specialty Crops • Farmers who grow fruits, vegetables, and other special crops (not just big row crops like corn or wheat) also get better insurance help. • The insurance companies a...
Read more

Section 10502: Area-Based Crop Insurance Coverage and Affordability

Image
🧑‍🌾 Section 10502 – Helping Farmers Afford Better Insurance 1. Farmers buy insurance for their crops so they don’t lose everything if there’s bad weather or problems like drought. 2. This new rule says farmers can now get even more protection. The highest level of insurance they could buy before was less, but now: • Regular crop insurance can go up to 85% coverage. • If they combine different crops, they can get up to 90% coverage. • If they choose insurance based on their area’s average (like how the whole county is doing), they can get up to 95% coverage. 3. Before, the government helped pay for part of the insurance cost—now they will help even more! • The government used to help pay 65% of the cost. • Now, they’ll help pay 80%, so it’s cheaper for the farmer. 💡 In short: This section helps farmers buy better crop insurance by letting them protect more of their crops and by giving them more money to help pay for it. That way, they can worry less ab...
Read more