Reps. Foster and Casten, food bank leaders slam federal SNAP changes during Geneva event
'This bill is evil in the Biblical sense of that word,' Casten said.
On Thursday morning, Casten; U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville; Northern Illinois Food Bank and local food pantry leaders and two individuals who receive food from local pantries came together to speak about cuts and their possible effects at a discussion at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva.
The elected officials gathered on Thursday decried the bill and its effect on Illinois, while food bank and food pantry leaders shared their concerns about meeting higher demand for food, particularly as their facilities also face federal funding cuts.
The modifications to the SNAP program come as part of the 'Big Beautiful Bill Act,' which was passed by Congress and officially signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4. It includes $4.5 trillion in tax breaks that were enacted in 2017 during Trump's first term that would have expired if Congress failed to act, as well as new ones, the Associated Press reported.
The law also changes existing programs, like SNAP. According to the AP, participants in the program already had to work until they were 55 to qualify. The new law mandates participants work until 65, with some exceptions — like parents who care for a child under the age of 14.
Foster called the budget bill 'devastating,' saying Illinois is 'not exempt from the damage here.'
According to the most recent available USDA data, just over 700,000 households in Illinois were receiving SNAP benefits, which amounts to 14.1% of all households in the state. The percentage in Foster's 11th Congressional District, for example, is lower, at 8.3% of households and 23,614 in total as of 2023.
Julie Yurko, the Northern Illinois Food Bank's president and CEO, said on Thursday that the changes in eligibility requirements will put around 360,000 Illinoisans at risk of losing SNAP benefits.
One of the effects of the increased requirements, Foster noted, is that many individuals may be discouraged by additional paperwork required to receive SNAP benefits.
For example, Casten pointed to children coming out of the foster care system, people who have been homeless and members of the veterans community as some of the groups which may have additional difficulties providing the necessary paperwork to enroll in SNAP.
The difficulties of enrolling some individuals for food-related benefits also extend to local assistance, said John Arient of Stone Soup in Marengo, which provides hot soup and other food to individuals on a weekly basis. He said numerous undocumented people show up to its center and fill out the required paperwork, but he worries about the effects the changes will have.
'This, I'm afraid, is going to hurt so much,' Arient said.
Annette Johnson, the executive director of Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry in Aurora, said the number of students coming to pick up food at its distributions at East Aurora High School has been increasing significantly, which she thinks is in part due to undocumented families relying more on the distributions.
Food pantry leaders explained that the loss of SNAP benefits for some will likely further increase demand at the pantries, which is compounded by the pantries' own federal funds being diminished.
Yurko said that cuts to two federal programs that the Northern Illinois Food Bank relies on — the Local Food Purchase Assistance, or LFPA, program and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, or EFSP — are going to reduce the food bank's budget by $3 million to $4 million annually.
The future of the LFPA, a COVID-19 pandemic-era program, had been uncertain before the federal tax bill, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture froze funds for the program back in March, disrupting food supply and distribution at local pantries, according to past reporting.
And the SNAP and federal funding cuts are compounded by the effects of inflation, Yurko said, noting an increase in food insecurity in the area in the past few years that hasn't let up.
'We saw it (inflation) hit,' Yurko said. 'We know exactly when inflation kicked in … and we saw more folks turning to us.'
Now, with the federal tax bill passed, Foster said there's still some uncertainty as to when the changes officially go into effect. In addition to fighting cuts in the courts, Foster told The Beacon-News that he and other lawmakers are going to spend the next year and a half trying to convince Republican legislators that they 'made a mistake in many of the things they just voted for, and that maybe they would be willing to support legislation that would mitigate some of the damage.'
'When they see the damage hit a lot of their predominantly rural districts, I think … there's a good chance they will end up having a little buyer's remorse on this,' Foster said.
In the meantime, local leaders also pointed to these cuts as a call to action for the local community.
'I think, right now, a lot of people are showing up to help, and they don't necessarily know what to do,' said Kane County Board member Jarett Sanchez. 'It doesn't always take the form of a protest. Sometimes it really is (that) we were able to provide some extra vegetables to the local food pantry. We were able to donate some of our time to help these people feel more comfortable coming in and showing up and receiving the things that they did.'
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Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump wants states to feed voter info into powerful citizenship data program
People participate in a naturalization ceremony last year at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J. The Trump administration is encouraging states to use an online search tool to verify the citizenship of registered voters, alarming some Democrats and privacy experts. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) BILOXI, Miss. — The Trump administration is developing a powerful data tool it claims will let states identify noncitizens registered to vote. But Democratic critics and data experts warn it could allow the federal government to vacuum up vast quantities of information on Americans for unclear purposes. Some Democratic election officials and opponents of the effort fear President Donald Trump wants to build a federal database of voters to target political opponents or cherry-pick rare examples of noncitizen voters to fuel a sense of crisis. Republican election officials allied with the president counter that he's helping states to maintain accurate voter rolls. The Trump administration has rolled out changes to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, tool at the same time the U.S. Department of Justice is asking states for copies of their voter rolls. The timing, combined with questions about what happens to voter data uploaded to the program, has alarmed critics. Trump wants Congress to pass a national proof of citizenship voter registration requirement and in March tried to unilaterally impose one for federal elections through executive order. But with the legislation stalled and the order halted by the courts, the citizenship data tool may offer a backdoor way to accomplish the same goal. SAVE was originally intended to help state and local officials verify the immigration status of individual noncitizens seeking government benefits. But U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, this spring refashioned it into a platform that can scan states' voter rolls if election officials upload the data. The changes to SAVE, rolled out over just a few months and with little public debate, are 'tinkering with sort of the bones of democracy,' said John Davisson, senior counsel and director of litigation at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy group that argues privacy is a fundamental right. 'You're talking about the voting process and who will be eligible to vote,' Davisson said. 'And to take a system that is not designed for use in that process and repurpose it, really on the fly, without a formal comment process, without formal rulemaking, without congressional intervention — that's pretty anomalous and pretty alarming.' Previously, SAVE could only search one name at a time. Now it can conduct bulk searches, allowing state officials to potentially feed into it information on millions of registered voters. SAVE checks that information against a series of federal databases and reports back whether it can verify someone's immigration status. Since May, it also can draw upon Social Security data, transforming the program into a tool that can confirm citizenship because Social Security records for many, but not all, Americans include the information. NPR reported earlier on changes to SAVE. 'It is incredible what has been done, really since March,' Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray, a Republican who supports proof of citizenship requirements and the SAVE tool, told a gathering of state secretaries of state in Biloxi, Mississippi, last week. Individuals registering to vote in federal elections must already sign a statement affirming they are citizens under penalty of perjury, and those who cast a ballot face criminal penalties and deportation. One study of the 2016 election placed the prevalence of noncitizen voting at 0.0001% of votes cast. But as Trump has spread falsehoods about elections, Republicans have made purging noncitizens from voter rolls a central focus. Democratic concerns were on display last week at the National Association of Secretaries of State conference, held at the Beau Rivage casino-resort in Biloxi. In interviews on the sidelines of the conference, Democratic secretaries of state voiced deep reservations — or outright opposition — about plugging their voter data into SAVE. Maine Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Aug. 6 that the federal government appeared to be trying to take over election administration. She formally rejected the Justice Department's voter roll request two days later. Bellows said the Department of Homeland Security told her in a recent phone call that it planned to retain SAVE data for 10 years for 'audit purposes only.' 'Just like the [Justice Department] is asking us to hand over an electronic file of all the voters in our state, it seems like the Department of Homeland Security is through this backdoor system also asking us to share voter information about every voter in our state,' Bellows said. At least one state appears to have granted the federal government sweeping authority over any voter data it provides to SAVE. Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales announced in July he had reached an agreement with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to access the newly expanded system for voter list maintenance. Indiana's agreement allows the federal agency to use information the state provides for any purpose permitted by law, including criminal prosecutions. Morales, a Republican, said in a news release that SAVE represented 'another step in safeguarding the rights' of eligible voters. His office didn't respond to Stateline's questions. The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to encourage state election officials to use the expanded program. The White House hosted a bipartisan 'fly in' event for state secretaries of state on July 29. Multiple secretaries of state told Stateline that USCIS Director Joseph Edlow, who was confirmed on July 15, spoke at the event. 'The president is very much keyed in on voter list maintenance,' Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, said in an interview — echoing other GOP secretaries of state who released statements praising the Trump administration after the meeting. When we disclose information, particularly personal identifying information, we need to have a handle on how it's going to be used, by whom and under what circumstances. – Minnesota Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat who attended the meeting, said he questioned how the federal government would handle voter information provided to SAVE. He added that the Justice Department's request for his state's voter rolls raised his level of concern about how data would be used. 'When we disclose information, particularly personal identifying information, we need to have a handle on how it's going to be used, by whom and under what circumstances,' Simon told Stateline. The White House referred questions about SAVE and the event to the Department of Homeland Security and USCIS. In response to questions from Stateline, USCIS didn't directly answer whether the agency would share voter roll data with other parts of the federal government but confirmed it disposes of records after 10 years. 'The SAVE application is a critical tool for state and local governments to access information to safeguard the integrity of elections across the country. It's no wonder many states have quickly adopted it, and we continue to promote the tool to other states and counties not using SAVE,' USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said in a statement. 'We look forward to continued optimization efforts and implementing more updates to SAVE.' Some Republican election officials and Trump allies have long wanted the federal government to take an expanded role in searching state voter rolls for noncitizens. Last summer the Trump-aligned litigation group America First Legal, co-founded by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, encouraged states to submit to the Department of Homeland Security the names of individuals for citizenship or immigration status verification. Some states did just that. Texas, for example, asked USCIS to verify the citizenship of some voters in September, and Indiana asked the agency to verify 585,774 voters in October. The same month, 16 Republican state attorneys general signed a letter criticizing Homeland Security, then under the Biden administration, for failing to work with states on verification. After Trump took office, GOP state officials kept up the pressure. Twenty-one Republican secretaries of state urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February to prioritize SAVE improvements. On April 16, Indiana sued the department in federal court for not responding to its verification request last fall. USCIS announced an overhaul of SAVE less than a week later. As the agency continues to remake SAVE, the tool will soon allow searches using the last four digits of a Social Security number, multiple state secretaries of state told Stateline. The agency confirmed the feature is under development and will be available soon but didn't provide an exact date. The change would mark another significant expansion of the program because most states collect the last four digits when individuals without a driver's license register to vote. Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, a Republican, said SAVE represents a better way to verify citizenship than a state law requiring voters to produce documents. 'I think there's a real opportunity for us to do a lot of this through just sharing of information and I think that's what we're seeing happen,' McGrane said in an interview. But some voting rights advocates and experts on government data caution against an overreliance on Social Security data. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, a progressive policy nonprofit, has noted that Social Security only began tracking the citizenship status of all applicants in 1978 — meaning the database doesn't include comprehensive citizenship information for older Americans. Additionally, Social Security may not always have up-to-date information on the status of naturalized U.S. citizens. The nonpartisan Institute for Responsive Government also warned in May that since SAVE hasn't used Social Security numbers to verify citizenship in the past, its accuracy and effectiveness are unknown. The success of the expanded SAVE program may also partially depend on whether it has adequate staff and resources, it said. A 2017 Government Accountability Office report found that between fiscal years 2012 and 2016, about 16% of the nearly 90 million SAVE searches required additional verification, which the institute says often translates into federal workers manually checking files. Now that SAVE allows bulk searches, the need for manual checking could rise dramatically. Nick Doctor, director of implementation at the Institute for Responsive Government, said in an interview that a tool confirming the eligibility of registered voters in a way that doesn't burden individuals can be a good thing. But he emphasized that it depends in large measure on SAVE's implementation. 'The changes that have been made to SAVE happened very quickly and, to my knowledge, we haven't seen releases on the level of accuracy of that information,' Doctor said. 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Yahoo
15 minutes ago
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Social Security benefits could be cut in as soon as 7 years. Congress must act.
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Politico
40 minutes ago
- Politico
Who ordered Baraka's arrest?
Good Tuesday morning! A big unanswered question many of us have had since May 9 has been whether someone high up in the Trump administration ordered federal agents to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka as he stood outside the gate of an ICE facility in Newark. Members of Congress there to inspect the facility had suspected as much, noting a law enforcement officer had been talking on the phone with someone who told the agent to arrest Baraka. That touched off the scuffle that resulted in Rep. LaMonica McIver being charged with assaulting federal agents, even as the charges against Baraka were dismissed. Body camera footage summarized in a legal filing late last week by McIver strongly suggests the answer is yes. According to McIver's filings, after ending a phone call, an unnamed law enforcement officer said: 'I am arresting the mayor ... even though he stepped out, I am going to put him in cuffs ... per the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.' That's according to body cam footage McIver's legal team said it got during discovery. The video itself was not included in the filing. That's pretty important, since the decision to arrest Baraka is what touched off the entire chaotic scene. Video footage showed a guard allowing Baraka inside the gate. He stayed there about 40 minutes before federal agents told him he needed to leave or face arrest. Baraka complied. But they arrested him anyway. Later in May, feds dropped the charges and instead secured an indictment of McIver for assault on law enforcement over some shoving and elbowing (McIver claims she was shoved). McIver argues that the charges against her should be void based on the 'Speech and Debate' clause, as well as 'selective' and 'vindictive' prosecution. She compares her case to the many more violent scenes we all saw from Jan. 6. Those scenes resulted in police injuries. Nobody in the McIver scuffle claimed injury. 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Walter Ullrich has filed a lawsuit against Hackensack Middle School, the Board of Education, the Bergen County Office of Education, Hackensack and the county after he said he suffered injuries when a toilet in the middle school 'malfunctioned' and 'exploded with extreme force.' …' The lawsuit does not further detail how or why the toilet 'exploded.'' — 'Sussex Prosecutor's Office hit with gender discrimination lawsuit by veteran detective' — '[Pleasantville] district considers starting school as late as 9 a.m., angering some parents' — 'Councilman Ramos: 'Five Dollar Ferries will change the game for Hoboken'' — 'First time in years: Paterson heads into school year with fewer than 100 teacher vacancies' — 'N.J.'s 1st Black auto shop fixed cars for 93 years. Now it's facing eviction' EVERYTHING ELSE MALL AREA MALARIA — 'NJ resident infected with malaria, possibly from local mosquito, a rarity here,' by The Record's Scott Fallon: 'State officials are investigating whether a North Jersey resident contracted malaria from a local mosquito, authorities said on Aug. 18. It would be the first reported case of the disease acquired in New Jersey since 1991, the Department of Health said. Acting Health Commissioner Jeff Brown said the likelihood of catching malaria is low in New Jersey, but he urged residents to take precautions … The person, a resident of Morris County, had no recent history of international travel' ABUSEMENT PARKS — 'Jersey Shore amusement ride incidents are decreasing, but are they getting safer?' by the Asbury Park Press' Olivia Liu: 'Since 2020, Jersey Shore amusement parks reported nearly three dozen incidents ranging from injuries to mechanical failures, according to reports obtained by the Asbury Park Press. Dislocated shoulders, a visible bump on the head and a lap bar opening without setting off indicator lights were reported to the state Department of Community Affairs, which inspects amusement rides across the state … Of the 33 incidents, 25 of them took place in just a two-year period between 2020 and 2021' … The drop from 17 incidents in 2021 to two incidents in 2022 came as a result of a change in reporting mandates. In prior years, any cut or bruise in which a visitor said they might go to the hospital, resulted in a call to the Department of Community Affairs hotline.' — 'Huge tents, loud radios, sitting too close: Is beach etiquette dead in New Jersey?' — 'Jersey Shore lifeguards plead: Don't swim on deadly unguarded beaches' — 'Erin is expected to stir up the Jersey surf and enhance coastal flooding'
