“President Biden wasted no time fulfilling his pledge to the American people to bring substantial financial relief within the first 100 days of his Administration. Thanks to passage of the American Rescue Plan today, help is on the way. The American Rescue Plan will jolt our economy back to life, get money into the hands of struggling Americans, get our children back to school safely, get COVID-19 vaccinations out more swiftly, and get nutrition assistance to millions of food insecure Americans.

“The American Rescue Plan boosts SNAP benefits for food insecure families; it expands resources to mothers and young children to purchase healthy, fresh foods; and delivers badly-needed nutrition aid to U.S. territories. It also increases food available for distribution through food banks, nonprofits, or restaurants to help feed families in need and at the same time supports farmers by purchasing their products. America’s farmers, ranchers and producers will reap the benefits of the American Rescue Plan as more resources flow through the economy, as more businesses open up, spurring greater demand for American food and agricultural products.

“In rural America, the American Rescue Plan provides significant investments to help struggling homeowners pay their mortgages, property taxes and property insurance. It expands rental assistance. It funds broadband to schools and hospitals and other community facilities.

“The American Rescue Plan provides historic debt relief to Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and other farmers of color who for generations have struggled to fully succeed due to systemic discrimination and a cycle of debt. We cannot ignore the pain and suffering that this pandemic has wrought in communities of color. The American Rescue Plan answers that call to action.

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the nationwide extension of several waivers that allow all children to continue to receive nutritious meals this summer when schools are out of session. These flexibilities are now available through Sept. 30, 2021.

USDA is extending these waivers to provide local program operators with clarity and certainty for the summer months ahead, when many children cannot access the school meals they depend on during the academic year. The waivers were previously extended only through June 30, 2021.

“We will do everything we can to make sure children get access to healthy, nutritious meals regardless of their families’ financial circumstances,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Our child nutrition professionals are doing a heroic job ensuring kids across the country have proper nutrition throughout this public health emergency, often times with limited resources. USDA is committed to providing local operators with the flexibilities and resources they need to continue offering the best meal service possible to their children, given their day-to-day realities.”

The waivers extended today allow for safe meal distribution sites that serve all children for free, regardless of income. In addition, the waivers:

• Allow meals served through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SSO) – collectively known as “summer meal programs” – to be made available in all areas at no cost;
• Allow meals to be served outside of the normally required group settings and meal times; and
• Allow parents and guardians to pick-up meals for their children, including bulk pick-up to cover multiple days of feeding children.

Right now, up to 12 million children are living in households where they may not always have enough to eat. These critically needed summer meals will provide relief to many children in families who have been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and are fighting daily to put food on the table.

Summer meal sites are places where children and youth age 18 and under can receive meals at no cost in a safe environment. The meals are also available to persons over age 18 with mental or physical disabilities. Sites may be located in a variety of settings including schools, parks, community centers, libraries, churches and more.

USDA is issuing this guidance as early as possible to empower communities to establish as many meal sites as they can effectively manage this summer. To learn more about how the program works and the role of sponsors and meal sites, visit  https://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/how-become-sponsor.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) seeks comments regarding the development, coordination and implementation of grant programs to support food processing, distribution, seafood processing, farmers markets, and producers and other businesses identified in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The legislation directs USDA to use these grant funds to help businesses respond to coronavirus, including for measures to protect workers against COVID-19.

Comments can be submitted through midnight ET on March 31, 2021, via online portal or by email to AMSCOVIDStimulus@usda.gov. We welcome feedback from all interested parties, and we appreciate early response. Additional information is available on the AMS website.

In addition, AMS will host a listening session to provide groups and individuals an opportunity to share their views on how USDA can best serve the industry through this program. All interested stakeholders are invited to attend. Stakeholders are also invited to register to provide oral comments during the session.

Listening Session Information:The listening session will be conducted via webinar using ZOOM.

Date and Time:March 19, 2021 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET

Registration:Registration will remain open until the start of the event, or until the session is full. However, you must register by midnight ET on March 16, 2021, to provide oral comments during the listening session. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Registrants who request to speak will be contacted by a staff member and must participate in a practice session to test audio requirements. Speakers will be introduced by a moderator; and speaking time is no more than three minutes.

AMS will make the agenda for the session available on the website by March 18, 2021.

Contact:Questions regarding the listening session can be directed to AMSCOVIDStimulus@usda.gov. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication (Braille, large print, audio tape, etc.) should contact the USDA Target Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

AMS encourages comments from smaller businesses, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, socially disadvantaged producers, veteran producers, and underserved communities, and/or organizations representing these entities. AMS expects commenters writing or speaking on behalf of these entities to engage and involve them in planning comments.

Background:Sec. 751 of the COVID Stimulus Package, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, provides no less than $1.5B to purchase food and agricultural products, including seafood, fresh produce, dairy, and meat products, to distribute to individuals in need, including through delivery to nonprofit organizations that can receive, store, and distribute food items, and for grants and loans to small or midsized food processors or distributors, seafood processing facilities and processing vessels, farmers markets, producers, or other organizations to respond to coronavirus, including for measures to protect workers against COVID–19.

WASHINGTON, Mar. 3, 2021 — In January 2021, President Biden released the National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness. The plan is driven by science, data, and public health to improve the effectiveness of our nation’s fight against COVID-19 and to restore trust, accountability and a sense of common purpose in our response to the pandemic.

The National Strategy provides a roadmap to guide America out of the worst public health crisis in a century. It is organized around seven goals:

1. Restore trust with the American people.
2. Mount a safe, effective, and comprehensive vaccination campaign.
3. Mitigate spread through expanding masking, testing, data, treatments, health care workforce, and clear public health standards.
4. Immediately expand emergency relief and exercise the Defense Production Act.
5. Safely reopen schools, businesses, and travel while protecting workers.
6. Protect those most at risk and advance equity, including across racial, ethnic and rural/urban lines.
7. Restore U.S. leadership globally and build better preparedness for future threats.

The plan calls on all parts of the federal government to contribute its resources—facilities, personnel, and expertise—to contain the pandemic. Chief among the efforts is a whole-of-government response to stand up new federally supported community vaccination centers across the country.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responding to the President’s call to action. In addition to personnel, USDA is offering its facilities, cold chain infrastructure, public health experts, disaster response specialists, and footprint in rural areas and Tribal communities across the country. Here are the some of the ways USDA is working alongside our federal partners to contain the pandemic and get our economy back on track.

Programmatic Announcements

• Mar. 2: To date, for the 2020-2021 School Year, USDA has approved $10 billion to provide Pandemic EBT benefits to 11.4 million children in 22 states and territories. Most recently, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has approved plans for school aged children in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Virginia, and Washington, and for children under 6 in Arizona and Indiana.
• Feb. 25: Food Lion plans to extend SNAP online purchasing to eight additional states—Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia—beginning Feb. 25. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has been working to expand access to online purchasing for SNAP participants. The full list of states and retailers participating in the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot is available on the FNS website.
• Feb. 24: USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has approved five states for SNAP emergency allotments totaling $430,994,867 for the month of March 2021. State and territorial agencies submit their emergency allotment extension requests to FNS throughout the month for acknowledgement and approval, as long as they continue to meet their emergency declarations due to the pandemic.
• Feb. 23: USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service released $400 million in additional funding to states to support The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), including $73.3 million in administrative funds and $326.7 million to purchase food through the Agricultural Marketing Service.
• Feb. 23: Education Department Amplifies Expansion of SNAP Benefits to Help Students Pursuing Postsecondary Education During Pandemic. In accordance with President Biden’s January 22nd Executive Order on extending economic relief during the pandemic, USDA worked with the Department of Education to increase awareness of newly expanded SNAP eligibility guidelines for students.
• Feb. 18: COVID-19 Update: USDA, FDA Underscore Current Epidemiologic and Scientific Information Indicating No Transmission of COVID-19 Through Food or Food Packaging.
• Feb. 17: USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service approved 47 states and territories for emergency allotments in SNAP, totaling $2,033,734,872 for the month of February 2021. FNS also approved one state for emergency allotments totaling $55,595,754 for the month of March 2021.

• Feb. 17: USDA COVID-19 Workplace Safety Plan
• Feb. 16: Biden Administration Announces Another Foreclosure Moratorium and Mortgage Forbearance Deadline Extension That Will Bring Relief to Rural Residents: USDA extended the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums on USDA Single Family Housing Direct and Guaranteed loans through June 30, 2021 due to an almost unprecedented housing affordability crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Feb. 1: Biden Administration Halts Residential Evictions in USDA Multifamily Housing Communities in Accordance with CDC Guidance: USDA extended the eviction and foreclosure moratorium to affected multifamily housing residents through March 31, 2021, providing relief to the tens-of-thousands of Americans who rely on USDA-supported multifamily housing communities.
• Jan. 27: USDA Temporarily Suspends Debt Collections, Foreclosures and Other Activities on Farm Loans for Several Thousand Distressed Borrowers Due to Coronavirus: USDA temporarily suspended past-due debt collections, foreclosures, non-judicial foreclosures, debt offsets or wage garnishments, and referring foreclosures to the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office.
• Jan. 22: Biden Administration Expands P-EBT to Benefit Millions of Low-Income and Food Insecure Children During Pandemic: USDA is increasing the Pandemic-EBT benefit by approximately 15%, providing more money for low-income families and millions of children missing meals due to school closures.

Personnel Deployments

487 Personnel Deployments to Date (Mar. 3, 2021)

• The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has deployed 200 employees, including 144 employees to Nevada and Oklahoma to administer vaccinations at a variety of rapid points of distribution including mobile teams and pop-up clinics; 8 employees to Dallas; 2 employees to Ohio; 14 employees to Oregon; 11 employees to Maryland; 7 employees to Washington State; 6 employees to Chicago; and 8 employees to support FEMA efforts across the country.
• The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the Agricultural Marketing Service, and the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) have dispatched 28 veterinarians to assist with vaccination efforts in Nevada, Maryland, and Oklahoma.
• The USDA Forest Service has deployed 255 Incident Management Team personnel and they are currently assigned to the National COVID Vaccine Campaign staffing vaccination centers, providing logistical support, planning at regional/state levels with FEMA and states, and more.
• Four (4) U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Officers detailed to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) are assisting with logistical support for the vaccination campaign.

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2021 — The COVID-19 public health and economic crisis is bigger than any other we’ve seen in our lifetimes — while the pandemic has forced the U.S. economy into crisis, millions of Americans are struggling with food insecurity, unemployment, and falling behind on housing payments. Hunger has increased throughout the pandemic, with as many as 30 million adults and 12 million children living in a household where they may not always get enough to eat. 

Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated longstanding disparities in food insecurity. Black and Latino adults are more than twice as likely as white adults to report that their households did not get enough to eat.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Biden-Harris administration are committed to ensuring that all struggling families can get the nutritious food they need.

Supporting Struggling Families through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

In good times and tough times, USDA’s nutrition assistance programs are among the most far-reaching, powerful tools available to ensure that all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or background, have access to healthy, affordable food. USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides low-income Americans with access to healthy groceries. Approximately 43 million Americans rely on this program to feed themselves and their families. USDA and the Biden-Harris administration are working to strengthen this vital program by:

• Increasing SNAP benefits by 15%. Investments in nutrition assistance can have a powerful stimulative impact. A recent USDA study found that in a slow economy, one billion dollars in additional SNAP benefits would lead to an increase of $1.54 billion in the gross domestic product. In December, Congress provided a 15% increase in SNAP benefits from January through June 2021, which is providing about $28 per person per month to families in need. Of the over $7.0 billion investment, two-thirds is going to families with children, and nearly 40% is supporting the poorest households, with incomes less than half of the federal poverty level. As part of the American Rescue Plan, President Biden called on Congress to extend the increase in SNAP benefits through September. Extending this policy will helps thousands of people in need in each state, while providing millions of additional dollars to buy food in local communities. 
  • Benefits by State (PDF, 269 KB)
• Increasing access to online purchasing: Online grocery shopping has become a vital resources of increasing food Access, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of the pandemic, and in support of social distancing guidance, USDA redoubled its efforts to expand the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot beyond the original eight states. Currently, more than 1.5 million households in 46 states and D.C are using their SNAP benefits to purchase groceries online through participating retailers. Through the American Rescue Plan, the Biden-Harris administration supports an increased investment in technology to modernize electronic benefit transfer (EBT), support retailers, including farmers markets and direct-marketing farmers, and increase access to online purchasing for SNAP participants. 
  • SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot States and Retailers

• Supporting states with additional administrative funding: Our state and local partners are on the front lines of providing nutrition assistance to struggling families, seniors, and people with disabilities. Throughout this pandemic, USDA has made full use of our authorities to support governors and state agencies administering our programs to ensure that benefits get to the kids and families that need it most. As part of the American Rescue Plan, the Biden-Harris administration supports providing an increase in SNAP administrative funds, without requiring states to match those funds, for fiscal years 2021 through 2023. 
• Reducing inequalities in SNAP emergency benefits. Through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Congress authorized emergency increases to SNAP benefits to address the increase in hunger due to the pandemic. While this has provided about $29 billion in additional benefits for struggling Americans since the start of the pandemic, we are deeply concerned that approximately 20 million people in the lowest income households – who have the least ability to absorb the economic shocks brought about by COVID – have received no or very little emergency benefit increases provided by Congress last spring. About 40% of these households have children and 20% include someone who is elderly and 15% include someone who is disabled. USDA is working with the Department of Justice to review our legal authority to increase SNAP emergency allotments for those who need it most. 
• Ensuring SNAP benefits support a healthy diet. Even before COVID, millions of Americans who rely on SNAP were struggling to buy and prepare healthy food with a benefit amount based on an outdated Thrifty Food Plan. As we look to find ways to strengthen our nutrition programs for the future, USDA has begun the process of updating the Thrifty Food Plan to better reflect the true cost of a healthy basic diet today. 

Increasing Support to U.S. Territories

American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico receive a block grant in lieu of participation in SNAP. In December, Congress provided an additional $614 million to address increasing needs for nutrition assistance in these territories. President Biden called on Congress to provide these U.S. territories with an additional $1 billion in funding to support families hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Addressing Childhood Hunger Which Has Been Exacerbated by School Closures

Prior to the pandemic, nearly 22 million students relied on free or reduced-price school meals to get the nutrition they need to grow and learn. When schools closed in March 2020, school nutrition professionals across the country worked tirelessly to make sure these children had access to meals despite unprecedented challenges. USDA is working with our state partners to address these challenges by:

• Supporting schools with waivers and flexibilities to make school meals safe and accessible. In light of the unique circumstances, USDA is currently allowing schools to serve free meals to all students in need, waiving requirements that students are served in group settings at traditional mealtimes, and allowing parents and guardians to pick up meals. USDA, through new authority from Congress, is also offering additional administrative funds to states to support local program operators who are experiencing increased costs due to the public health emergency. 
• Strengthening the Pandemic EBT program. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, USDA launched the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (Pandemic-EBT) program that provides food dollars to low-income families with kids, to replace the value of school meals missed when schools are closed. Under President Biden’s leadership, USDA has increased the daily benefit amount by about 16 percent, providing a family with three children up to $50 per month in additional benefits. 

Further, USDA has made it easier for states to establish a Pandemic-EBT program for this school year by issuing new P-EBT guidance to help states leverage their available data and resources to best serve children and families. Through improved guidance and extensive, one-on-one technical assistance, USDA is speeding up the process for state approvals. As of today, USDA has approved P-EBT plans for 22 states and territories this school year, which will provide over $10.0 billion to over 11.4 million children.

The Biden-Harris Administration is calling for additional support for this vital program through the American Rescue Plan which would extend Pandemic-EBT beyond September until the end of the pandemic, provide Pandemic-EBT benefits to families during the summer months in addition to the school year, and include children under 6 from the territories of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Investing in the Health of New Moms and Young Children

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, more commonly known as WIC, provides tailored nutrition assistance and breastfeeding support to new moms, infants and children for their first five years of life. Strengthening WIC, and introducing more eligible families to its benefits and services, has proven to drive better health for infants and support more nutritious diets and better health care for children, all while producing higher academic achievement for students.

Unfortunately, the share of eligible families participating in WIC has declined over the past decade; about half of eligible low-income individuals weren’t enrolled in 2017. The number of WIC participants continued falling at the end of 2019, and while it rebounded in some areas during the pandemic, it remained lower than the previous year even as the number of children living in households facing food hardship increased dramatically.

We believe that connecting more eligible women and young children to WIC is one of the tools to reduce stark racial disparities in maternal and child health. As part of the American Rescue Plan, President Biden has called on Congress to make a significant investment in WIC, and supports the current plan which includes:

• Reaching eligible mothers and children. USDA wants to undertake a robust national outreach campaign to ensure that eligible families know about WIC’s benefits and offer new easy ways for them to enroll. 
• Supporting Innovation in WIC. USDA will support projects, through waivers and demonstration projects, to improve service delivery and increase participation and utilization of benefits. 
• Increasing access to fruits and vegetables. The WIC Cash Value Voucher allows WIC participants to purchase fruits and vegetables at grocery stores and farmers markets. The administration supports a temporary increase in the amount provided for each participant, from the current amount ($9 for children and $11 for women) to $35 per person, per month. 

Supporting Homeless Young Adults and Struggling Students

To provide additional support for individuals over 18 who are not usually eligible for USDA’s child nutrition programs, USDA is working to:

• Provide support for struggling college students. In December, Congress provided USDA with the flexibility to extend SNAP benefits to college students who would otherwise be ineligible if they are eligible to participate in work study programs or have an expected family contribution of zero in the current academic year. USDA is working with the Department of Education to inform students, as well as their colleges and universities, of this expanded eligibility. 
• Feed young adults through emergency shelters. As part of the American Rescue Plan, the Biden-Harris administration supports allowing individuals under 25 experiencing homelessness to receive meals through emergency shelters participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. 

Supporting Food Banks

Food banks are one of USDA’s most important partners in responding to the rise in food insecurity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. USDA is committed to doing much more to support our non-profit food bank network throughout the pandemic, and ensure that they have the resources to meet the growing demand for food assistance. Across all of our nutrition assistance programs, USDA is looking for ways to remove barriers and make it easier for qualified applicants to receive assistance through programs like SNAP, WIC and P-EBT, which should ease the demand currently shouldered by our food bank partners. To further support the states and food banks that make up the network for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), USDA is:

• Enhancing support for food purchases. Using funding provided by Congress, USDA has supported states with an additional $1.25 billion in funding to purchase foods through the Agricultural Research Service. 
• Multiplying administrative support. To enable food banks to receive, store, and distribute the large increases of foods received by USDA, states have received a threefold increase in administrative support, $293 million, which can be utilized to support critical operational needs such as storage, transportation, and staffing. 
• Boosting “bonus” buys. Each year, USDA makes food purchases that support agricultural markets while providing supplemental foods to those in need. Since the start of the pandemic, nearly $700 million in bonus foods have been delivered to TEFAP distribution sites. 

Hungry Families Cannot Afford to Wait

USDA is moving quickly to deploy the emergency resources and new flexibilities Congress has provided in the end of year COVID relief package. We recognize that recovery from the pandemic will take time, effort, and great perseverance from all of us. We will stay focused each day on this critical mission because hungry families cannot afford to wait. USDA stands ready to work with Congress to deliver to American communities the urgent support and relief they need.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2021 — In January 2021, President Biden released the National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness. The plan is driven by science, data, and public health to improve the effectiveness of our nation’s fight against COVID-19 and to restore trust, accountability and a sense of common purpose in our response to the pandemic.

The National Strategy provides a roadmap to guide America out of the worst public health crisis in a century. It is organized around seven goals:

1. Restore trust with the American people.
2. Mount a safe, effective, and comprehensive vaccination campaign.
3. Mitigate spread through expanding masking, testing, data, treatments, health care workforce, and clear public health standards.
4. Immediately expand emergency relief and exercise the Defense Production Act.
5. Safely reopen schools, businesses, and travel while protecting workers.
6. Protect those most at risk and advance equity, including across racial, ethnic and rural/urban lines.
7. Restore U.S. leadership globally and build better preparedness for future threats.

The plan calls on all parts of the federal government to contribute its resources—facilities, personnel, and expertise—to contain the pandemic. Chief among the efforts is a whole-of-government response to stand up new federally supported community vaccination centers across the country.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responding to the President’s call to action. In addition to personnel, USDA is offering its facilities, cold chain infrastructure, public health experts, disaster response specialists, and footprint in rural areas and Tribal communities across the country. Here are the some of the ways USDA is working alongside our federal partners to contain the pandemic and get our economy back on track.

Programmatic Announcements

• Beginning Feb. 25: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has been working to expand access to online purchasing for SNAP participants. The latest expansion is Food Lion, which plans to extend SNAP online purchasing to eight additional states beginning Feb. 25: Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia. The full list of states and retailers participating in the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot is available on the FNS website.
• Feb. 23: Education Department Amplifies Expansion of SNAP Benefits to Help Students Pursuing Postsecondary Education During Pandemic. In accordance with President Biden’s January 22nd Executive Order on extending economic relief during the pandemic, USDA worked with the Department of Education to increase awareness of newly expanded SNAP eligibility guidelines for students.
• Feb. 18: COVID-19 Update: USDA, FDA Underscore Current Epidemiologic and Scientific Information Indicating No Transmission of COVID-19 Through Food or Food Packaging.
• Feb. 17: From February 8-12, USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) approved Pandemic EBT to support children who are missing school meals due to closures in Minnesota, and Wisconsin. For the 2020-2021 school year, USDA has provided $5.9 billion in Pandemic EBT benefits to 7.1 million children in 15 states and territories.
• Feb. 17: USDA FNS has approved 47 states and territories for emergency allotments in SNAP, totaling $2,033,734,872 for the month of February 2021. FNS also approved one state for emergency allotments totaling $55,595,754 for the month of March 2021.

• Feb. 17: USDA COVID-19 Workplace Safety Plan
• Feb. 16: Biden Administration Announces Another Foreclosure Moratorium and Mortgage Forbearance Deadline Extension That Will Bring Relief to Rural Residents: USDA extended the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums on USDA Single Family Housing Direct and Guaranteed loans through June 30, 2021 due to an almost unprecedented housing affordability crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Feb. 1: Biden Administration Halts Residential Evictions in USDA Multifamily Housing Communities in Accordance with CDC Guidance: USDA extended the eviction and foreclosure moratorium to affected multifamily housing residents through March 31, 2021, providing relief to the tens-of-thousands of Americans who rely on USDA-supported multifamily housing communities.
• Jan. 27: USDA Temporarily Suspends Debt Collections, Foreclosures and Other Activities on Farm Loans for Several Thousand Distressed Borrowers Due to Coronavirus: USDA temporarily suspended past-due debt collections, foreclosures, non-judicial foreclosures, debt offsets or wage garnishments, and referring foreclosures to the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office.
• Jan. 22: Biden Administration Expands P-EBT to Benefit Millions of Low-Income and Food Insecure Children During Pandemic: USDA is increasing the Pandemic-EBT benefit by approximately 15%, providing more money for low-income families and millions of children missing meals due to school closures.

Personnel Deployments

354 Personnel Deployments to Date (Feb. 24, 2021)

• The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has deployed 126 employees, including 92 employees to Nevada and Oklahoma to administer vaccinations at a variety of rapid points of distribution including mobile teams and pop-up clinics; 8 employees to Dallas; 2 employees to Ohio; 10 employees to Oregon; 4 employees to Washington State to assist in planning vaccination efforts; and 10 employees to support FEMA.
• The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) have dispatched 16 veterinarians to assist with vaccination efforts in Nevada and Oklahoma.
• The USDA Forest Service has deployed 208 Incident Management Team personnel and they are currently assigned to the National COVID Vaccine Campaign staffing vaccination centers, providing logistical support, planning at regional/state levels with FEMA and states, and more.
• Four (4) U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Officers detailed to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) are assisting with logistical support for the vaccination campaign.