Government Shutdown

City of Bloomington Township provided emergency food assistance to nearly 500 people whose SNAP benefits were denied during the recent federal government shutdown.

The McLean County Alliance for Community Services is composed of advocates for low-income families fighting for food and health care for all.

Republicans and Democrats continue blaming each other for the government shutdown even after the vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government until the end of January.

The state expects all 1.8 million Illinoisans who use the food assistance program to get full benefits by Nov. 20 after SNAP was delayed and reduced during the federal shutdown, which ended Wednesday night.

The U.S. House voted 222 to 209, mostly along party lines, to fund the government. President Trump signed the bill into law Wednesday night.

President Trump signed a bill to fund the government through the end of January, ending the shutdown that has dragged on for six weeks.

Illinois’ Dick Durbin was one of eight Democrats in the U.S. Senate to support a plan on Sunday night to reopen the federal government. The plan angered many top Illinois Democrats such as Gov. JB Pritzker and three candidates running to replace Durbin.

Airports in Bloomington and Peoria say there will be impacts to their facilities from a federally-ordered reduction in airline flights at key airports around the country.

Beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP] will only receive half of their normal payments, the Trump administration revealed in court this week.

The USDA declined to tap into additional funds, which will delay and reduce benefits.