USDA will end coronavirus exception, making SNAP recipients prove their income again to get food stamps

The federal government has refused requests from jurisdictions including D.C. and Maryland to extend a food-stamp program waiver past August. This means that despite the ongoing pandemic, needy families will once again be required to prove their income or risk losing their benefits.

The Trump administration’s refusal to continue the waivers, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture has offered since March, has left the D.C. government scrambling to set up a website so that families can “recertify” their income online rather than go to a government office in person.