We have recently received questions regarding the child nutrition policy on the treatment of income from deployed military personnel engaged in long-term military campaigns overseas.
This memorandum addresses questions have been raised by WIC state agencies regarding the eligibility determinations for individuals from military families which include military service personnel serving overseas or assigned to a military base and temporarily absent from the home.
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide an update on the Department of Defense actions to implement a program like WIC overseas, the impact it has on the WIC program, and the actions required by WIC state agencies.
Update on the Department of Defense (DoD) Subsistence Supplemental Allowance for Members of the Armed Forces
Included in the Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 is a provision requiring the Department of Defense to pay certain service members and their families a Family Subsistence Supplemental Allowance so they will not have to rely on food stamps to make ends meet.
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.
Attached is guidance for your staff and state agencies on submitting a request to purchase food stamps for use in state-funded nutrition programs. The guidance includes information on the terms for reimbursing the federal government for the value of food stamps distributed and the federal administrative costs incurred under such state programs.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, restricts participation in most food assistance programs based on citizenship and alien status. WIC is specifically exempted from these restrictions, however, states have the option to limit participation to citizens and qualified aliens.
Noncitizens who were receiving food stamps on Aug. 22, 1996, will not lose benefits due to their immigration status until at least April 22, 1997. If, for example, a person moves to another state or has a break in eligibility because of something unrelated to his or her noncitizen status (such as a temporary increase in earnings) and applies again before April 1, 1997, the new noncitizen eligibility requirements would not apply.
The Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act makes a significant change to implementation of the food stamp eligibility provisions for noncitizens of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.