Latest news with #TransitionalAidtoFamilieswithDependent
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Massachusetts EBT outage: SNAP benefit cardholders will not be to use them this weekend
The more than one million Massachusetts residents who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will be unable to use their EBT cards for a portion of this weekend. The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance announced that there will be a full EBT outage beginning late Saturday night April 26 and continuing into Sunday April 27. During the outage period, EBT cardholders will not be able to use them for food and cash purchases or for cash withdrawals. The DTA said about 1.1 million people in Massachusetts rely on SNAP benefits, and nearly all of them access their benefits via an EBT card. The DTA said the outage will begin on Saturday, April 26 at 11 p.m. and continue until midday Sunday, April 27. The agency said a message will be posted online at once cards are available for use again. After the outage, cardholders will be able to use them as normal and they don't need to do anything to reactivate. The DTA said SNAP benefits will not be impacted by the outage, but clients won't be able to access them during the period. The EBT system will be undergoing maintenance that will require a brief outage period, according to the DTA. The agency said it is switching which company it uses to issue EBT cards to clients, pay out benefits and manage the EBT system. The EBT card outage applies to anyone who receives SNAP benefits from the state. During the maintenance period, these cardholders will be unable to buy food or withdraw cash. Those who get Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Emergency Aid to the Elderly Disabled and Children benefits on their EBT cards will also be affected by the outage. Melina Khan is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY Network - New England, which serves more than a dozen affiliated publications across New England. She can be reached at MKhan@ This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: MA EBT card outage planned for this weekend. What you need to know
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Advocates rally behind endangered anti-poverty boost
BOSTON (WWLP) – Concerned the boost to cash assistance grants that took effect at the start of April could be short-lived, anti-poverty advocates called on lawmakers Thursday to preserve the 10% increase and then support another 10% jolt in fiscal 2026. Advocates with the Lift Our Kids Coalition, which has 160 member organizations, say the grant amounts are still not enough to support the basic needs of very low-income Bay Staters living in 'deep poverty,' or whose incomes are below half of the federal poverty level. For a family of three, that monthly level is $1,110 per month, according to the coalition. As of April 1, the new maximum monthly grant for a family of three is $861, up from the previous amount of $783. The increase was incorporated in the fiscal 2025 budget. That increase would be rolled back under Gov. Maura Healey's fiscal 2026 budget recommendations for the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children and Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children programs, the coalition said. 'We need to maintain the increase in FY '26. We cannot go back,' April Jennison, a lead coalition member, said at a briefing Thursday afternoon. 'Without a further increase, we'll continue to lose ground to inflation, undermining the progress that we and the Legislature have made.' Budget-writers are contending with modest revenue growth and deep uncertainty around federal support, but that didn't stop House Democrats on Wednesday from embracing steeper spending in their fiscal 2026 budget proposal. Cash assistance grants have increased by 45% over the past five years, according to the 'Lifting Our Kids Out of Deep Poverty' display on the State House's fourth floor. From July 2000 to December 2020, grants were stalled at $593 per month for a family of three. Healey previously slashed more than $17 million from the public benefits programs during fiscal 2024 budget cuts. 'Remember, we would be over $950 right now if the governor had not cut it last year,' Rep. Marjorie Decker, who grew up in poverty, said. Healey's fiscal 2026 budget would undo the latest grant increase, advocates say. In a January budget brief, the Healey administration wrote the funding 'maintains historic growth in caseload and benefits but does not raise average benefit levels above those in effect as of January 2025.' At a March 25 budget hearing, Department of Transitional Assistance Commissioner Jeff McCue acknowledged the cut. 'The Administration has carefully considered the allocation of resources for FY26 to ensure the most effective support for families in need,' McCue said, according to his prepared testimony as shared with the News Service. 'While the decision not to include the entire 10% increase for TAFDC and EAEDC was a challenging one, it reflects a commitment to balancing competing priorities within a constrained budget environment.' Asked whether the newly unveiled House budget also rolls back the recent boost to cash assistance grants, Ways and Means Committee spokesperson Blake Webber told the News Service on Thursday, 'No we believe our language maintains the increase.' The House budget development drew a round of cheers and applause at Thursday's briefing. 'So I'm really excited, and there's some good news,' Decker, of Cambridge, said. 'We were checking yesterday to make sure that the House budget that came out, it does annualize the cash increase that we got.' Advocates are promoting legislation from Decker and Sen. Sal DiDomenico (H 214 / S 118) that would gradually raise cash assistance grants to the deep poverty level and require annual cost-of-living adjustments. The grant dollars have lost 40% of their value between 1988 and 2025 due to inflation, according to the coalition's display. 'Until we get a law on the books, until we pass an actual bill to make this what it should be — a law — we have to fight for every dollar in the state budget every single year,' DiDomenico said. 'And this year more than most years, it's going to be very difficult — very, very difficult.' DiDomenico pledged to file a budget amendment to inject more into the benefit programs if the investments do not appear in the Senate Ways and Means Committee budget next month. The Everett Democrat emphasized advocates and lawmakers are confronting a 'pivotal moment.' 'If we go backwards just one year, it's harder to recover the second time around,' DiDomenico said. 'We have to keep the momentum building. People are depending on us to do that.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Yahoo
Massachusetts audit reveals $2M state benefits fraud, SNAP leads
BOSTON (WWLP) – A report released by the Massachusetts state auditor shows over $2 million in state benefits were fraudulently funded, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In a news release on Friday from State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, the report from the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) shows $2,041,723 in public benefits fraud from an audit between October 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024. Five Massachusetts offices were examined with a total of 971 cases. Of those cases, 153 had overpayments as identified fraud. Analysts speculate about how Medicaid cuts might be made SNAP benefits ranked as the highest in identified fraud with 60.7% of the cases. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): $1,239,688 Medicaid: $536,800 Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC): $156,397 Department of Early Education and Care (EEC): $75,341 Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children (EAEDC): $31,789 Personal Care Attendant (PCA): $1,706 The individual benefit programs are responsible for collection activities related to BSI cases which may involve settlement through civil recoupment or criminal prosecution. 'When public benefits fraud occurs, it impacts the lives of everyday people across the Commonwealth who depend on these programs and services to purchase food or access care,' said Auditor DiZoglio. 'That's why the work of our fraud examiners is critical to help ensure these programs and services are operating efficiently and reliably for everyone who needs them.' WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
