SNAP Extension of Authority for Replacement of Stolen Benefits Plans

On Sept. 26, 2024, President Joseph R. Biden signed into law the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (continuing resolution). This memorandum is intended to clarify the impact of the continuing resolution on upcoming SNAP benefit issuance and stolen benefits replacements.

State agencies should continue to administer the program in accordance with federal statute and regulations, following normal processes and timelines for sending issuance files and issuing benefits through the end of January 2025.

The continuing resolution also extends the authority, provided by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, to replace some portion of SNAP benefits stolen via card skimming, card cloning, and other similar fraudulent methods with federal funds. The statutory change revises the end date of the benefit theft period from Sept. 30, 2024, to Dec. 20, 2024.

State SNAP agencies do not need to submit revised plans for the replacement of stolen benefits to the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to account for this extension. State SNAP agencies should continue replacing stolen SNAP benefits using federal funding in a manner compliant with all other aspects of their approved plans, as long as the requests involve benefits stolen between Oct. 1, 2022, and Dec. 20, 2024.

As described in Section 501(b)(1)(iv) and 501(b)(B) of division HH of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (7 USC 2016a), state agencies must submit data reports on benefit theft and replacement activity to the Secretary. State agencies should continue reporting data as outlined in their approved plans, with interim reports due no later than 45 days after the end of each federal fiscal year quarter.

State agencies with questions regarding the impact of the continuing resolution should contact their FNS regional office representatives.

Catherine Buhrig
Associate Administrator
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program