USDA approves waiver to allow SNAP beneficiaries time to report losses

The federal government has approved a request from Mississippi to provide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program beneficiaries additional time to report food losses due to severe weather and flooding this month.

The approval waives the requirement that SNAP losses be reported within 10 days to receive replacement benefits, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) announced today.

SNAP benefits are provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. With the waiver in place, families displaced by flooding will be eligible to get food replaced even if they can’t report the losses within the usual 10 days.

The waiver applies to Attala, Carroll, Chickasaw, Claiborne, Clay, Copiah, Greene, Grenada, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Leake, Leflore, Madison, Quitman, Rankin, Warren, Washington, Wilkinson and Yazoo counties.