Sen. Dick Durbin, along with fellow Illinois Democrats Reps. Mike Quigley and Jan Schakowsky, held a press conference this week to discuss the impact a government shutdown would have on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
"In 2013, a small, vocal minority forced a shutdown for 16 days, impacting people and businesses across the country," Durbin said. "Once again, Republicans are playing political games with the livelihood of some of our most vulnerable citizens. SNAP recipients include children whose parents are struggling to make ends meet, seniors living on a limited income, and men and women who lost their jobs or got sick. I hope that cooler heads will prevail in the coming days, and Congress gets busy taking care of the work we were sent to do — fund the government and develop a budget that enables our country to thrive.”
Without congressional action, the government would have shut down on Thursday, jeopardizing SNAP benefits for 46.5 million Americans, including 2 million people in Illinois.
During the 2013 shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was able to tap funds remaining from the Recovery Act to maintain SNAP operations, but those funds have now been depleted.
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