Congressman Sean Casten is one of millions of people across the country dreading Nov. 1.
Due to the government’s shutdown, which Casten doesn’t see ending soon, Supplemental Nutrition Assist Program benefits are scheduled to be cut off, affecting people from all over the nation who rely on them.
According to Casten (D-6th), who refers to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act as the One Big Ugly Bill Act, 472,000 Illinoisans stand to lose some or all benefits, including up to 60,000 children, seniors, veterans, and working parents in Illinois’ 6th Congressional District.
And on Nov. 1, he said if the benefits are lost, it affects 1.9 million Illinoisans.
“There is a word to use to describe politicians who use starvation to achieve their goals,” Casten said. “It’s not a nice word but it’s the right word to apply to this plan. It is deeply ‘evil’ on their part.”
Casten spoke to a group of officials from West Suburban food pantries about the possible effects of the cuts at a morning roundtable discussion on Oct. 22 at the DuPage Senior Citizens Council in Lombard.
Casten said that with the potential cuts ahead, it’s important for food pantries to brace for an onslaught of people looking for food.
He praised the leaders for being able to feed people through the financial crisis of 2008 and the pandemic of 2020-21.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much entrepreneurial hustle as I have inside a food pantry,” Casten said.
That said, Casten doesn’t want to predict when the shutdown will end but he admits it’s possible this could drag into December and into the holidays.
Kendall Grant is the director of the St. Cletus Food Pantry in LaGrange, which serves 18 municipalities including many communities in the Southwest Regional Publishing Area.
She said after the roundtable that November and December are traditionally the busiest month out of the year. In recent months, the total of the families in need have exceeded the numbers from the pandemic.
She is expecting the demand to ratchet up in November.
“It’s certainly a challenge we’re concerned about,” she said after the roundtable talk. “We don’t want to be in the business of exponential growth in this industry, right? “And every week, every month, every year we continue to grow and more and more of our neighbors are having trouble making ends meet and are having a difficult time paying for utilities, rent and groceries.”
Grant said this is a place the community doesn’t want to be in and is concerned about the cuts that have already happened and the cuts that are to come.
She said the pantry is seeking out volunteers, money and food and is prepared to limit food if there are too many requests for food and not enough food to go around.
On a larger scale, the Northern Illinois Food Bank serves 13 counties in Illinois and 575,000 people a month.
Colleen Ahearn, the group’s chief philanthropy officer, said people who are in need should visit solvehungertoday.com to find a pantry near them for help.
“People are already feeling the angst,” she said. “Our hope is that the government re-opens and we are doing prep work to meet the growing need that is already in the state.”
Casten admits that this SNAP chat was gloomy and tried to end it on a positive note by expressing his thanks to the food pantry leaders.
“Thank you all for your virtue,” he said. “It shows the American people are still a virtuous bunch.”
Casten, please stop the gaslighting. The Continuing Resolution has been used multiple times to allow time for further negotiations. The country is being held hostage by your political party, period.
Rep. Caster encourage your fellow senate Democrats to end the shutdown. They are the reason SNAP & Military etc are in danger, not President Trump.
Thank you Rep Casten for your diligence and fortitude in doing the right thing for people in need. That is what we are all about and why we voted for you.