States are warning struggling Americans who rely on food stamps to pay for groceries because they may miss out on benefits come November.
“Starting October 16, SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits will not be paid until the federal government shutdown ends and funds are released to PA,” reads a notice from the Pennsylvania state website. “Trump’s failure to open the federal government is now endangering people’s lives and making basic needs like food more expensive,” said Gavin Newsom, California’s Governor, on Monday, emphasizing the risk for people in his state.
In California, 5.5 million people use “CalFresh” SNAP benefits to do their grocery shopping, stated Newsom, adding that those recipients could “begin to be notified as early as this week about the potential benefit delay.”
The shutdown became the second-longest in history on Wednesday as it entered its 22nd day.
More than 5 million people in California and nearly 2 million residents of Illinois could be cut off from food stamps beginning Nov. 1, according to officials in both states. “Our food pantries are going to be overwhelmed with SNAP participants who rely on that critical lifeline for support and for basic food assistance,” Man-Yee Lee of the Greater Chicago Food Depository told CBS News.
