IOWA - An expansion to the federal food assistance program is spring boarding off an Iowa appearance by the White House.
The visit to the Food Bank of Iowa in Des Moines coincided with the Monday announcement of a 15 percent increase in SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps.
The increase in funding is part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package that President Biden and Democrats pushed through Congress.
Vice President Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff joined Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Democratic Congresswoman Cindy Axne at the Iowa stop.
Emhoff is traveling to Omaha Tuesday and St., Louis Wednesday to promote the stimulus package, also known as the American Rescue Plan.
Iowa's delegation to Washington voted on party lines on the massive package, with Axne, the state’s lone Democrat voting in favor. No Republicans in either the House or Senate supported the bill.
A release from the Agriculture Department says the 15 percent increase in SNAP benefits will provide about $28 more per person, per month, or more than $100 more per month for a household of four. The increase in benefits will last through September.
“We cannot sit by and watch food insecurity grow in the United States,” said Vilsack. “The American Rescue Plan brings help to those hurting the most due to the pandemic. It increases SNAP benefits so households can afford to put food on the table. It invests in working people and small towns and small businesses to get the economy back on track. And it makes the most meaningful investments in generations to reduce poverty.”