Fruits and vegetables are pictured at a County Market grocery store in Springfield. The items are eligible for purchase under the federal SNAP program. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Campbell)
Article Summary
- SNAP benefits have resumed in Illinois, with recipients set to receive the rest of their November benefits over the next week.
- The Illinois Department of Human Services says the delay was avoidable and put Americans at risk of hunger.
- Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin was among eight Senate Democrats who voted to end the government shutdown.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Human Services announced Thursday that residents who received partial or delayed SNAP funds in November will begin receiving full benefits for the month.
In Illinois, nearly 1.9 million people rely on SNAP benefits to buy groceries. Illinois recipients are expected to see their full benefits by Nov. 20, according to IDHS.
On Sunday, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and seven other Senate Democrats broke rank to vote alongside Republicans to pass a budget bill and reopen the federal government after a record 43-day shutdown caused an unprecedented lapse in Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program funding.
After three weeks of whirlwind lawsuits, appeals and a proposal by the Trump administration to provide only partial benefits, the government reopening means states can now release outstanding November benefits.
“The crisis was entirely avoidable,” IDHS said in a statement. “The Trump Administration had the funding to fully support SNAP but chose not to, putting tens of millions of Americans at risk of hunger.”
Lily Simpson, 21, is a substitute elementary school teacher in Carbondale. Simpson, who relies on SNAP for groceries, said the uncertainty around the timing of benefits made it difficult to plan her shopping.
“When they don’t tell you the previous month that it’s going to be cut, it’s hard to budget that way,” Simpson said. “We already don’t have a lot to work with, but the SNAP, it really is just that extra cushion every month for us.”
Simpson, who usually receives $158 in SNAP benefits on the first of the month, said her first payment came in on Nov. 7 with only $12. The next day, she got $38 more. Now, she said she can see the rest pending in her account.
Though Simpson signed up for text alerts about the status of her benefits, she said there had been no communication about the new deposits since the first one. She was only notified to check her account from a friend’s suggestion.
Simpson said she was lucky to have family members who could offer support and take her shopping, but without that, she would not have staples like milk and butter in her fridge.
“I would still be coasting off of the random leftover things in my pantry, like those green beans in the back corner that you forgot about that you’re just going to eat out of the can,” she said.
“I’m one of the lucky few that was able to continue to eat throughout it, but there’s plenty of people who weren’t.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
