Politics
Nearly 2M Illinois Residents Stand to Lose SNAP Benefits Amid Government Shutdown
Nearly 2 million Illinois residents, including 900,000 people in Cook County, face losing their benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, if Congress fails to pass a budget by Nov. 1.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it’s not allowed to use emergency funds to keep the program going amid the ongoing government shutdown, saying in an unsigned memo: “Contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits. … SNAP contingency funds are only available to supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits. The contingency fund is not available to support FY 2026 regular benefits, because the appropriation for regular benefits no longer exists.”
This is the first time in modern history there will be a lapse in SNAP benefits. In previous government shutdowns the program remained operational.
“The federal government has the resources, the experience and the ability to fund SNAP even if the government shutdown persists,” said Nolan Downey, senior director of policy at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. “They have SNAP contingency funds that are there exactly for this purpose and a number of other funds that they could deploy to make sure people do not go hungry in November.”
For every meal the Greater Chicago Food Depository provides, SNAP provides nine, said Downey, emphasizing that the organization won’t be able to meet the need.
Illinois is among a coalition of 25 states suing the Trump administration over the SNAP freeze, describing the upcoming cuts as illegal and unnecessary.
The Illinois Department of Human Services sent WTTW News the following statement:
“It has been widely reported that Trump’s USDA has the ability to use emergency funds to fund SNAP but is choosing not to. SNAP has never been withheld from the American people during a government shutdown until now. The state administers more than $350 million in SNAP benefits each month, funding that feeds families in every corner of the state. SNAP is a 100% federally funded benefit and the federal government withholding payments to the state will impact all 1.9 million recipients in Illinois. The State of Illinois does not have the budgetary ability to backfill these critical resources. While nothing can adequately replace the life-sustaining benefits of SNAP, the State of Illinois is currently evaluating options to support food insecure Illinoisans during this difficult time.”
Aubrey Lewandowski, a single mom of four children, has been utilizing SNAP benefits for close to two years after she was laid off from her job at Amazon.
She found out about the funding pause via text from the IDHS, initially thinking the message was a scam.
Her monthly benefit is $1,150, which she said covers most of the basic necessities. In the absence of the assistance, Lewandowski is planning ahead by taking on more work hours, meal prepping with friends and going to food pantries more frequently.
“There’s a lot of things that aren’t always readily available at food pantries,” Lewandowski said. One of her sons is on the autism spectrum and requires specific food items. “(I have) a child who has sensory processing and food aversions. I can only feed him certain things and I rely on those benefits to make sure he has everything he needs as well as all my children.”
Beyond the shutdown, changes will be made to SNAP in December — as outlined in the federal reconciliation bill. Notable changes include expanding work requirements so that able-bodied recipients must work 80 hours per month with some exemptions; the eligibility of legally present noncitizens will be limited to exclude refugees and asylum seekers.
“We are dealing with a sequence of crises with this program,” Downey said. “There are many people in the state that should be exempt from these requirements and so it’s incredibly important for folks to go and submit those exemptions to the Department of Human Services.”
Some critics of SNAP, like the Illinois Policy Institute, cite the state’s error rate. Illinois has a higher error rate than the national average at 11.6%, which the conservative institution reports costs taxpayers up to $700 million in penalties.
“The error rates include anything from a typo to misqualifying somebody,” said Lindsay Allen, a health economist and policy researcher at Northwestern University School of Medicine. “It’s really overstating how many people are getting SNAP benefits when they normally shouldn’t be.”
SNAP is also a great economic driver for communities, Allen said.
“We’re missing out on $8 billion for the month of November if Congress can’t get this sorted out that won’t be going into local communities,” Allen said.
