Excluded Workers and SNAP Recipients to Get Benefits After All
Councilmember Nadeau fought hard for the excluded worker payouts, working with Councilmembers Henderson and Lewis George
Many residents will soon get much-needed and overdue relief, as a result of a revenue forecast that freed up funds allocated in the District’s 2023-24 budget.
Roughly 15,000 workers who were left out of previous pandemic relief will get their long-promised payments of about $1,000 each. Councilmember Nadeau worked with fellow councilmembers to ensure the payments to excluded workers made it into the budget.
In addition, SNAP benefits for more than 100,000 D.C. residents will be temporarily increased with nearly $40 million dollars allocated by the Council. Federal aid that had boosted SNAP benefits expired in March, leaving those recipients with much-reduced benefits.
Councilmember Janeese Lewis George orchestrated a measure by which the benefits for both groups would kick in if the September revenue projections, as determined by the District’s Chief Financial Officer, showed that the District would have the revenue to cover them. They did.
“This is going to be really good for all of our communities. Folks are going to be able to use that to pay off debt, to make purchases they’ve been delaying — it’s going to be a critical lifeline,” Councilmember Nadeau told the Washington Post.
Councilmember Nadeau thanked Councilmember Christina Henderson for introducing the SNAP legislation that led to the increased benefits and thanked Councilmember Lewis George, who chairs the Committee on Facilities and Family Services, for devising a mechanism to get the SNAP and excluded worker benefits into this year’s budget.