PEORIA — Ahead of an expected expiration of SNAP benefits for more than 40 million Americans, Gov. JB Pritzker said “all of us” need to be concerned about the future of the program which supports nearly 2 million people in Illinois.
Pritzker said the federal government could, and has been asked, to use emergency funds to keep SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) running beyond Nov. 1 but the Trump administration has elected not to.
The United State Department of Agriculture said in a message earlier this week that the “well has run dry” on SNAP benefits, which include food stamps, because of the government shutdown.
“They could keep that program going,” Pritzker said while speaking in Peoria on Tuesday. “They have been asked to keep that program going with those emergency funds and the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the federal administration, under Donald Trump’s administration, has said they will not use those funds to keep SNAP going even though we know there are many people on SNAP who cannot survive without the food that they might get without SNAP.”
The prolonged government shutdown has led to more than 750,000 government employees to be furloughed and is now threatening to see programs like SNAP impacted.
The state of Illinois operates the SNAP program, but it is entirely funded by the federal government. Pritzker said if the state tried to take over funding the program after Nov. 1 it would cost $350 million per month to “fill in the gap.”
“That’s not something the state could possibly fill in,” Pritzker said. “But what we can do though, I’m glad that you asked, is we’re going to do a lot to support our food pantries and other organizations that are privately operated but they’re non-profit organizations, that support nutrition and food for people across the state. It’s not as much as SNAP because we can’t afford to do what the federal government can, but it is what we can do and we are in fact working in Springfield right now to make sure we are prepared.”
Pritzker said he is hopeful the shutdown will end soon. Pritzker said tens of millions of people will “suffer” without the SNAP benefits across the U.S.
A group of 25 attorney generals from Democrat-led states, including Illinois, moved to sue the federal government on Tuesday to force SNAP payments using billions of dollars in contingency funds, according to the Washington Post.
The federal government has $5.5 billion in emergency funds for the program, which would only fund about half a month worth of SNAP benefits, the Washington Post reported. The federal government needs about $9.2 billion for SNAP payments in November.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Pritzker says Illinois will not be able to fill in gap if SNAP benefits expire in November
Reporting by JJ Bullock, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
