military fssa

Military Fssa - The Senate voted to end a special state food subsidy, which was created 14 years ago primarily to prevent further news about military families using food stamps. In its original purpose, it failed miserably.

The idea behind the Family Supplemental Living Allowance (FSSA) was to offer young servicemen with large families an alternative to food stamps, effectively making them financially ineligible for such assistance.

Military Fssa

In doing so, Congress confirmed that American society, and especially its politicians, associate food stamps with poverty and, in the most negative sense, with government certificates.

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Indeed, seven years after the FSSA was enacted to try to separate military families from the food stamp program, Congress tried to reduce the stigma of food stamps by renaming it the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

However, for financially challenged military families, food stamps or SNAP are far preferable to FSSA, as the Commission on Military Compensation and Modern Retirement explained in its final report. and committing for the first time to tracking the actual number of military households using food stamps.

The Defense Authorization Bill passed by the Senate in 2016 calls for the end of FSSA in the United States. FSSA would continue overseas where SNAP is not available. The bill would also encourage the Department of Defense to pressure the Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, to track for the first time the number of active-duty members receiving benefits.

So far, the House has refused to support ending the state's FSSA, arguing that some families may still need it. Instead, the House suggests that the US Comptroller General review military participation in nutritional assistance programs.

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The committee used available USDA data to estimate that between 2,000 and 22,000 military families receive SNAP benefits. While the commission has conducted some of the most thorough research to date on food assistance provided to military families, commissioners have been frustrated that no federal department or data source can be used to calculate a reliable number of military families receiving benefits of SNAP.

SNAP provides cash through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. It is sufficient that the household's monthly expenditure on food reaches a maximum allocation determined by the size of the household and assuming that 30 percent of the household's net income is spent on food. SNAP can only be used to purchase certain nutritious foods, but beneficiaries are not required to notify their service agencies when using benefits unless they also receive FSSA.

The FSSA distributes money with no purchase restrictions, enough to raise a member's household income to 130% of the federal poverty level, the SNAP eligibility threshold in many states. FSSA is part of Basic Living Allowance and cannot exceed $1100 per month.

The committee said the FSSA is not only less generous than SNAP, but carries more stigma because applications must clear applications, a process that "could harm the quality of life and careers of service members."

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One fact the committee found about SNAP that concerns family advocates is that eligibility can be lost when families with financial difficulties move into high-cost housing areas. This is because the basic housing allowance also increases, often pushing total income above the SNAP threshold.

"A peer family, the same family size, including a non-working spouse, may qualify for SNAP in Texas, but not in Northern Virginia because the housing allowance is higher there," explained Joyce Wessel Reiser, of the National Association of Military Families. "I'm going to argue that... even though housing support has gone up, they're still in the same financial situation."

Reiser suggests that SNAP would change the way military housing subsidies are counted as income, perhaps directing states to ignore housing subsidies that exceed the national average of housing subsidies by salary level.

Commissioner Michael R. Higgins, who served on the House Armed Services Committee staff as a personnel specialist from 1990 to 2013, recalled in a telephone interview why Congress created the FSSA. He was responding, he said, to the plight of the officers because of reports that some service members needed food aid to buy enough supplies.

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Lawmakers, Higgins said, weren't happy with explanations that four or more dependents in early grades would make them eligible for food stamps.

“Everyone wanted to do something to prevent this alarming result [of] service members and families [relying on] food assistance,” Higgins said. "The FSSA was the culmination of an extensive debate. Unfortunately, [it] suffered from the same dilemma we face today: no one really knew how many people in the military were receiving food assistance."

"But that explanation was not satisfactory on a political level," Higgins said. "This has not alleviated the question of why our fighters ... are entitled to a benefit associated with very low-income people."

So is the stigma of military personnel on food stamps so great that it can justify increasing benefits based on family size?

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"That's a very serious issue," Higgins said, reaching out to "yes, it's going to be very difficult." One concern, he said, would be second-round effects.

If more children resulted in greater benefits, he tweeted, then "we would have to expand the [base] hospitals for all the children that would be born."

When asked how commissioner customers should respond to seeing young service members using SNAP cards, Reiser advised the following:

But Congress needs to understand, she added, that any caps placed on annual military pay increases only lead to more members using SNAP cards. Conditions are returning to normal in regards to how the military is affected by the 2019 coronavirus. The Secretary of Defense signed a memo in March 2021 that outlines current conditions for movement of personnel and unrestricted travel. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a risk to DOD service members, civil servants, and families. Therefore, the department will continue to implement a conditions-based approach to personnel movement and travel, both within Israel and abroad.

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Conditions for unrestricted travel are now based on facility-level data about conditions in and around DOD facilities, facilities, and locations. Secretaries of Military Departments, Commanders of Combatant Commands, and the Director of Administration and Management will continually review each facility, facility, or location for a report on the feasibility of lifting travel restrictions. The status of travel restrictions will be posted weekly on Defense.gov and

Fees - Restricting movement helps alleviate the costs of additional accommodation needed during the self-monitoring period. This is a taxable service member payment of $100 per day, not to exceed $1,500 per month.

Only service members who are currently on permanent change of season or on temporary duty (outside of their permanent duty) are entitled to reimbursement for accommodation and per diem. Service members on their permanent duty post who are not in a travel situation (including those who have returned from secondment or temporary travel) may be eligible for HDP-ROM if they meet the following conditions:

Commanders enacting movement restrictions for self-monitoring should provide accommodation to members in advance, whenever possible. When this is not possible, the military will pay for accommodation and food out of pocket, but will be entitled to the HDP-ROM, which should cover most or all of the costs. The member is not required to reimburse any excess salary, but is also not allowed to receive additional payment if costs exceed the HDP-ROM. The service member must pay to stay in a location other than his or her residence, a government lodge, or a government-paid hotel.

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Will I still receive my rewards and special incentives for hazardous work (diving, demolition, etc.) if I can't meet the minimum performance requirements for payment?

Yes. Provided you are ordinarily eligible for special pay/incentives and your ability to perform your special duties for that pay has been interrupted due to COVID-19 related issues, your command may provide a waiver so that you can continue to receive pay without performing the specific duties. Contact your chain of command to find out if you qualify for an exemption and if you need to take steps to obtain one.

Current housing subsidy guidelines will cover most situations that affect service members due to COVID-19. However, under unique circumstances, commanders may do the following:

The following information does not apply to officers or members (officers or enlisted) who are entitled to daily allowance for isolation or quarantine.

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When commanders invite active duty members to restrict traffic for self-monitoring, they may want to consider the following in relation to BAS payment:

The Family Supplemental Living Allowance is a DOD program that supplements an eligible active duty member's income if it falls below 130% of the federal poverty guidelines (maximum payment is $1,100 per month). FSSA is only available to members with at least one dependent in their family serving abroad (not including Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands or Guam). For more information about the FSSA program or any other assistance, members should contact the Family Support Center, Counselors The Command's Financial Management or Community Services FSSA Application, Form DD 2857, is available on the WHS DOD website Forms.

I lived off base and received basic allowance with no discount on meals. Now, because of COVID-19, I have been instructed to do so.