FNS Documents & Resources

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004  requires school districts to directly certify for free school meals any child who is a member of a household receiving assistance under the Food Stamp Program.

On Dec. 8, 2004, the President signed The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005. This law contains a provision which excludes from consideration as income in the Food Stamp Program additional pay received by military personnel as a result of deployment to a combat zone.

We have been asked whether to adopt for food stamp benefit purposes the $48.17 average cost for prescription drug purchases that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) calculated. The answer is yes, with some caveats. We have prepared two new Q&As to outline how this should work.

Over the past few months, we have learned that some local offices suggest that clients withdraw their applications. The suggestion or recommendation that a client withdraw impinges on the voluntary character of a withdrawal.

In July of 1999, President Clinton announced several new initiatives to improve access to the Food Stamp Program. One of these initiatives was an expansion of the existing authority for quarterly reporting waivers.

The memorandum clarifies policy on quarterly reporting, and expands the kinds of changes that states can allow recipients to report quarterly, rather than when they occur.

Cumulative Questions and Answers on Certification and Work Issues in PRWORA

The fiscal year 1997 Supplemental Appropriations Act gave states the option of purchasing federal food stamps for use in state-funded food assistance programs that provide nutrition assistance to legal immigrants and childless, able-bodied adults ineligible for the Food Stamp Program because of the three-month food stamp time limit.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 made a number of changes to the National School Lunch Act which governs the waiver process in the child nutrition programs. This memorandum identifies the changes and provides guidance to be used in developing and submitting waiver requests to the child nutrition division.