Pandemic EBT – Summer 2023

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is releasing new guidance today to assist states in the development of Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) plans for the summer of 2023. The guidance consists of a Q&A document and a summer P-EBT plan template. These materials reflect the following changes to P-EBT contained in December’s Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023:

1. Congress authorized USDA to approve a state agency plan for the covered summer period alone. This means that States may now provide P-EBT benefits in the summer months regardless of whether they provide P-EBT benefits during the school year. Prior to this change, states would not have been able to offer P-EBT benefits in the summer of 2023 unless they had an approved P-EBT plan in place for school year 2022-23.
2. Congress prohibited states from providing P-EBT benefits in summer 2023 to children who did not attend a school at the end of school year 2022-23 that participated in the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program.
3. Congress required that the P-EBT benefit for the entire 2023 covered summer period shall not exceed $120 per eligible child.

The full P-EBT benefit is available to school children in the summer of 2023. However, assuming that the public health emergency expires on May 11, 2023, as the Administration currently anticipates, summer 2023 P-EBT benefits will not be available to SNAP-enrolled children in childcare. In addition, all funds must be distributed by the end of fiscal year 2023, which is Sept. 30, 2023.

Despite the changes noted above, USDA’s P-EBT summer 2023 plan template will look familiar to states. The updated template and Q&As are now available on USDA’s P-EBT website (click here for the P-EBT website).

Please be advised that the contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. This document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.

Attachments

• Pandemic EBT Summer 2023 Q&As
• P-EBT State Plan Template Summer 2023