With the country’s longest government shutdown finally over, Illinois officials say they expect full SNAP food assistance to begin flowing Friday and that the nearly 2 million people in the state that rely on the program to buy groceries will receive full benefits by Nov. 20.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds in Illinois and all states were delayed and then reduced amid the historic shutdown. Food pantries across the Chicago area were unable to match the need created by the $350 million lapse in monthly federal funding for people and families across the state, creating “unnecessary hardship,” according to state officials.

“This crisis was entirely avoidable — the Trump Administration had the funding to fully support SNAP but chose not to, putting tens of millions of America

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