The changes to SNAP outlined in what President Donald Trump dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” go into effect this month and require thousands of Illinois households to fulfill new work requirements or submit for an exemption.

More than 300,000 Illinoisians who receive SNAP benefits could be affected, according to officials from the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Many Chicagoans impacted by the new rules live in divested neighborhoods already suffering from a lack of access to nutritious food.

The order, which is three sentences long and comes with no explanation on the court’s thinking, will expire just before midnight Thursday.

The request is the latest in a flurry of legal activity over how the program that helps 42 million Americans buy groceries should proceed during the historic U.S. government shutdown.

The program serves about one in eight Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net. Word in October that it would be a Nov. 1 casualty of the shutdown sent states, food banks and SNAP recipients scrambling to figure out how to secure food.

“You are not going to make everyone drop dead because it’s a political game someplace,” U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said in court.

Nearly 2 million Illinois residents, including 900,000 people in Cook County, face losing their benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program if Congress fails to pass a budget by Nov. 1.

Starting Saturday, cards that SNAP beneficiaries use to buy groceries will not be reloaded after the Trump administration said last week it won’t use a roughly $5 billion contingency fund to keep funding the program next month.

This fall, free take-home meals at Malcolm X College, Kennedy-King College and Olive-Harvey College will be available for students and their family members.

More than 1 million Illinois residents have benefitted from an educational program that teaches SNAP recipients about nutrition.

Compared with eligible people who were not participating in the U.S. Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, SNAP participants showed a slower decline in cognitive function during a 10-year period, essentially maintaining up to three additional years of cognitive health, according to a new study.

In Illinois, 1.9 million residents receive SNAP benefits, including more than 891,000 people in Cook County. Approximately 3.4 million Illinoisans are covered by Medicaid.

President Donald Trump’s plan to cut taxes by trillions of dollars could also trim billions in spending from social safety net programs, including food assistance for lower-income people.

A food assistance program aimed at helping children have access to nutritious meals during the summer months will begin to issue benefits to low-income families in Illinois starting in May.

A House GOP budget plan passed last week asks the agriculture committee, which funds food assistance programs like SNAP, to cut $230 billion over 10 years. The energy and commerce committee, responsible for health care spending like Medicaid, was also asked to cut $880 billion over the decade.