With the country’s longest federal government shutdown finally over, state officials in Illinois say they expect full SNAP food assistance to begin flowing Friday and that all 1.8 million people in Illinois that rely on the program will receive full benefits by Nov. 20.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for November in Illinois and all states were delayed and then reduced amid the historic shutdown. Food pantries across the Chicago area said they were unable to match the need created by the $350 million lapse in monthly federal funding that goes to individuals and families to buy groceries.
“The lapse in SNAP funding has created unnecessary hardship for 1.8 million Illinoisans and businesses who rely on it,” the Illinois Department of Human Services said in a statement on Thursday. This crisis was entirely avoidable — the Trump Administration had the funding to fully support SNAP but chose not to, putting tens of millions of Americans at risk of hunger,” the Illinois Department of Human Services said in a statement on Thursday…