Food Stamps

Although food stamps will be facing cuts in Illinois, the good news is that the cuts are going to be fairly small and that most families will be able to budget themselves in order to continue making ends meet. The average family recipients in Illinois – one parent and one child – will be able to receive $347 a month for groceries with the program, even with the cuts in place. According to Januari Smith, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Human Services, “Beginning in November, the maximum 2 person allotment will decrease $20 — from $367 to $347.”

Obama actually set up some of the reductions in 2009 due to approving only a “temporary” boost in SNAP spending as part of the stimulus package for the time. The original plan was to make the temporary boost become a permanent boost, but it never occurred. As a result, the boost is now set to expire sometime in October. Some cuts later and $20 less in Illinois, there are now people that are claiming that food stamp families in the state will lose around 14 meals per month.

Smith noted that all of Illinois’ 2 million and counting food stamp recipients will begin to see the cuts after November. “Overall, it is a modest reduction considering the size of the program, but it will certainly impact households,” she said. The USDA, which is responsible for running the food stamp program, spends around $3 billion on food stamps in the state of Illinois every year. The $20 monthly reduction comes to around $21.2 million for the year. That amounts to less than 1 percent of the total amount that is spent on food stamps in Illinois.

Vice President of Policy within the Illinois Policy Institute, Ted Dabrowski, said that Illinois and the rest of the country have seen a significant growth in the use of the food stamp program over the recent years. “Our safety net is getting so big, we’re trying to spread the same amount of money over more and more people,” Dabrowksi said. “We’re making so many people dependent on government that we have to cut what we spend.” He believes that there needs to be more focus on providing jobs in the state and getting people off of the ‘safety net’ provided by the food stamp program — an idea that may be difficult to achieve given the current state of the economy.

Ultimately, although there are going to be some cuts to the food stamp program, those within the state of Illinois will be able to keep food on their tables and feed their family. The cuts will require for these families to budget themselves more and focus on bargain shopping, but they will not have to worry about experiencing the substantial and deep cuts that many had previously feared over the past few months.