Proposed Changes to Thrifty Food Plan Could Dramatically Increase Poverty
Posted by Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity on May 27, 2025
In this Spotlight Exclusive, we speak with Anastasia Koutavas from Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy about the consequences of scaling back SNAP’s Thrifty Food Plan. Along with Research Director Sophie Collyer and Director of Policy Megan A. Curran, the team produced an analysis which shows that reversing the 2021 update to the Plan could increase poverty and food insecurity. More specifically, without this update that modernized SNAP benefit calculations, over 2 million people, including 800,000 children, could fall below the poverty line. “We’re seeing that rolling back the Thrifty Food Plan would affect all SNAP recipients, not just those who are receiving the maximum benefit amount,” says Koutavas. Nationally, she says, this could lead to a poverty increase of 6%. While the study didn’t assess nutrition directly, Koutavas stresses that any rollback would weaken a program that not only reduces poverty but also improves public health outcomes.
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