With the public health emergency ending this week, and the temporary expansion for college student SNAP eligibility ending in June, congressional champions introduced legislation to permanently address low-income student hunger with the Enhance Access to SNAP or “EATS” Act.  The bill simplifies eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for low-income college students by eliminating the college student exemptions. 

Upon introduction, House sponsor Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) held a press conference on the U. S. Capitol grounds and talked about the experience of his family needing supplemental assistance to put food on the table, and how this bill will “break down barriers to higher education and ensure no student goes to bed hungry.”  This legislation, he said, “is a necessary step to provide an equitable, healthy learning environment for all of our country’s bright young minds.” 

The Senate sponsor of companion legislation, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), announced the bill at Baruch College, saying “The EATS Act would eliminate work-for-food barriers for low-income students and ensure that as many as 4 million college students nationwide can access the SNAP benefits needed to learn and thrive. College students should never have to choose between food and their education.” 

The EATS Act, along with other legislation to improve low-income college student access to SNAP, will be considered by the Agriculture Committees as they work on the Farm Bill, which expires September 30. NAICU endorsed the EATS Act and signed on to a coalition letter of more than 100 organizations asking the leadership of the Agriculture Committees to “remove barriers to SNAP that prevent college students from accessing critical food assistance and reform the program’s complex eligibility rules to support postsecondary attainment and workforce development.”