FNS Documents & Resources

Broad-based categorical eligibility is a policy that makes most households categorically eligible for SNAP because they qualify for a non-cash TANF or state maintenance of effort funded benefit.

USDA estimates that in 2019, there were 22,000 active duty service members in households that received SNAP. Another 213,000 members of the Reserves/National Guard lived in households that received SNAP.

You deserve to know that through USDA’s nutrition programs, you may be eligible for assistance to ensure you, your family, and fellow veterans have the assistance to ensure you have nutritious meals in times of need.

In July 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) published a proposed rule entitled “Revision of Categorical Eligibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)." This action closes a loophole that allows states to make participants in certain programs “categorically eligible” to participate in SNAP.