Illinois Food Stamps Funded Through February Amid Shutdown: USDA

ACROSS ILLINOIS — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced Tuesday that under President Donald Trump's direction, SNAP recipients across the country, including just under 2 million in Illinois, will receive benefits through February despite the ongoing government shutdown. According to a release from the USDA, SNAP is completely funded for January, and a plan was announced Tuesday to ensure that the millions of low-income Americans, including an average 936,500 households per month In Illinois, would have access to necessary nutrition.

The Illinois Department of Human Services reported an average of just over 1.8 million people used SNAP benefits in Illinois during the first half of 2018. In Cook County alone, that number ranged between 798,000 to 871,000 people per month between January and August 2018.

According to a USDA 2016 Profile of SNAP Households across Illinois Congressional Districts, SNAP provided about $3.04 billion dollars in food benefits to an average of 1,914,393 people per month in Illinois.

More: How Much The Government Shutdown Affects Illinois

According to a release, when USDA’s funding expired on Dec. 21, states had already received funding for January and have been distributing it to participants. The USDA has been going over options available to the department for funding February benefits without "an additional appropriation from Congress."

“At President Trump’s direction, we have been working with the Administration on this solution. It works and is legally sound. And we want to assure states, and SNAP recipients, that the benefits for February will be provided,” Perdue said in a release. “Our motto here at USDA has been to ‘Do Right and Feed Everyone.’ With this solution, we’ve got the ‘Feed Everyone’ part handled. And I believe that the plan we’ve constructed takes care of the ‘Do Right’ part as well.”

USDA officials said the department will rely on a provision of the just-expired Continuing Resolution (CR), which provides an appropriation for programs like SNAP and child Nutrition to incur obligations for program operations within 30 days of the CR’s expiration. USDA officials said the department will be reaching out to states to instruct them to request early issuance of next month's SNAP benefits, adding that states, including Illinois, will have until Jan. 20 to request and implement issuances, and then February benefits will be made available to SNAP participants.

According to a release, USDA has also ensured the other major nutrition assistance programs have sufficient funding to continue operations into February:

• The child nutrition programs, including school meals and after-school programs (through March).
• The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
• >>Benefits status of other supplmental nutrition and safety programs

Illinois SNAP benefits outlined:

Who qualifies?

• Those who are United States citizens or meet certain nonresident requirements.
• Those who live in Illinois. (The Illinois Department of Human Services will decide if your household is eligible)
• Those who are homeless, even if they don't have an address but live in the state.

How the amount of SNAP benefits each month is determined:

• Based on the size of your household, your income and your allowable expenses (rent or mortgage charge, property taxes, homeowners insurance, utility bills, child care, child support payments and certain cases include medical bills).

What can SNAP benefits buy?

• Most food items, in addition to plants and seeds to grow food. However, you cannot use your SNAP to buy hot prepared foods or non-food items.

>> More questions answered via dhs.state.il: How to apply, how to stay eligible and information on other programs.

More information can be also found by calling DHS toll free at 1-800-843-6154 (voice) or (866) 324-5553 TTY/Nextalk or 711 TTY Relay.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)