The 1.8 million people in Illinois who receive federal food assistance will get their February benefits early despite the government shutdown. But the distribution of benefits ahead of schedule has prompted concern that people might not budget properly if they are unaware of the change.
The workaround that allows for the continued funding of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for another month requires that February benefits be distributed to recipients by Jan. 20. Normally, Illinois SNAP recipients would get those benefits during the first 10 days of February.
State officials scrambling to get the word out held a news conference Friday emphasizing that the benefits that land in people’s SNAP accounts on or before Jan. 20 will have to last through February.
“It will be really important that people understand that this is early, not extra,” said James Dimas, Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, which administers SNAP in the state.
Retailers that accept SNAP are also bracing for the rush on groceries that could occur when every SNAP recipient receives benefits at the same time, rather than on a rolling schedule as usual. More than 260,000 retailers across the country participate in SNAP, including more than 9,200 stores in Illinois that last year redeemed $2.9 billion in SNAP benefits, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“When SNAP recipients get their benefits, they tend to spend them right away,” said Tanya Triche, vice president and general counsel of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. “We have to be prepared for there to be a bit of a rush.”
In anticipation of a sales uptick, the Food Marketing Institute, a trade association representing grocers and food retailers, is urging its members to staff up and stock up for the long weekend Jan. 20 falls on, especially on perishables like produce that are common purchases through SNAP, said Hannah Walker, director of government relations of the group.
The organization also is urging retailers to educate customers about the early disbursement of SNAP benefits. “We’re all taking very seriously the customer education side,” Walker said.
SNAP, funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, helps 38 million low-income Americans purchase food, and the budget stalemate has raised grave concerns about food security should the program’s funding be disrupted.
Though Congress had approved funding for the program only through January, the USDA on Tuesday said benefits would continue through February, thanks to a provision that allows federal agencies to make certain payments up to 30 days after the Dec. 21 expiration of the budget bill.
It’s unclear what will happen to the program if the stalemate continues into March.
“People are working on that question,” Dimas told reporters Friday. “Hopefully the impasse is cleared up before then.”
Some 800,000 federal government workers have been furloughed during a partial government shutdown that has dragged on for 21 days and counting as President Donald Trump insists on funding for a wall along the Mexican border and Democrats refuse.
Federal employees furloughed include about 95 percent of USDA staff, according to the agency’s web site, and the shuttered offices affect food programs in numerous ways.
For example, retailers that wish to obtain new SNAP licenses, either because they are brand new stores or are transferring ownership of a store, are out of luck because no one is around to process their applications.
“Business deals for new store openings may be delayed or even canceled, impacting local jobs, sales taxes, and local producers who supply these stores,” Peter Larkin, president and CEO of the National Grocers Association, wrote in a letter to Congress members urging them to resolve the shutdown. “Simply put, this shutdown is hurting Main Street grocers who are focused on growing their businesses and creating new jobs.”
In addition, over 2,500 retailers whose licenses to accept SNAP lapsed just before the shutdown started have been unable to get them reauthorized because the team that handles reauthorizations hasn’t been working.
USDA declined to provide the locations of the impacted stores but noted that 99 percent of SNAP retailers are able to accept benefits as usual. No additional retailers will be added or removed during the lapse in appropriations, the agency said.
“There is a small percentage of stores that failed to complete a required reauthorization process that was due on December 21,” a spokesperson for the agency’s Food and Nutrition Services said in an emailed statement. “Due to non-response, those stores were removed from the program, per standard procedure. These stores can take steps to update their status once FNS funding is restored and the necessary staff are in place to process the applications.”
Triche, of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said she is reaching out to her group’s membership to find out if the shutdown has affected any retailers’ licenses locally, though no one has contacted her about it yet.
As furloughed workers missed their first paychecks Friday, Dimas expressed concern that their families may soon join the ranks facing food insecurity. He urged people in that situation to seek help through the Greater Chicago Food Depository, part of a network of food banks.
Food banks have been preparing for increased demand, said Robert Campbell, policy director for Feeding America.
“We are very worried,” Campbell said.
But food banks can’t absorb the demand. For every one meal the Greater Chicago Food Depository provides, SNAP provides eight, according to spokesman Greg Trotter.
A major challenge is getting the shifting information about the status of SNAP to trickle to consumers and retailers on short notice.
“The shutdown has a created a remarkably fluid situation for SNAP retailers and families,” said Anna Ready, director of government relations at the National Association of Convenience Stores. “NACS is relaying any information we receive from USDA to our retailers promptly, and recognize that the staff at USDA are doing their best to keep us apprised of developments.”
But not all retailers that accept SNAP are members of trade associations that can disseminate information, including many mom-and-pop corner stores.
George Cooper, manager at a corner store in the Englewood neighborhood where he estimates 85 percent of customers buy food using SNAP, wasn’t aware Friday that SNAP recipients would have benefits through February. He was glad to hear it, as customers have expressed concern about losing food aid — a threat that he says would cause chaos in the community.
“The thought hurts more than actually doing it,” he said.
Sami Deffala, owner of Morgan Mini Mart in Englewood, said he has noticed customers shopping less because they are nervous their aid will have to stretch further.
“They are being prudent and cautious about what they’re buying,” Deffala said. “It has made business slower because they don’t know if their benefits will come on next month of the month after that.”
aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @alexiaer
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