Biden commits to Marianas SNAP

“President Biden is fully committed to the territories having access to the federal nutrition programs consistent with states,” said Stacy Dean, USDA Deputy Undersecretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services, in answer to Chair Sanford Bishop at a hearing of his agriculture appropriations subcommittee .

This commitment from the Biden administration is good news for the Marianas, which remains one of three U.S. jurisdictions that is not part of the nationwide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Instead, we receive a fixed block grant for food aid every year, which I have had to add to multiple times over the last two years as the pandemic economic downturn and the 2018 typhoons made more households eligible for help.

Ms. Dean and I worked on the 2015 farm bill, which included extra funding for the Marianas Nutrition Assistance Program; and I contacted her in December when her appointment as Deputy Undersecretary was announced by the Biden transition team to ask for a commitment on SNAP. We have met several times, along with Jessica Shahin, the national SNAP Administrator, and Regional Administrator Jesus Mendoza since then to map out how to get the Marianas into SNAP.

Although the Secretary of Agriculture has existing statutory authority (48 U.S.C. 1469d(c)) to extend SNAP to the Marianas, I have also introduced H.R. 421, the AYUDA Act, to accomplish this goal. Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), and other members of leadership are cosponsors.