He United States Department of Agriculture announced that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)which reaches 42 million beneficiaries, will not have funds as of November 1 due to the shutdown that the national administration faces since October 1 due to the lack of parliamentary agreement on the budget. In this way, the program will not be able to issue payments for next month.
The state agency blamed, through a statement, the Democratic Party for the legislative stagnation of the budget. They pointed out that Democratic senators voted “12 times against funding the food stamp program.”
On the opposite side, the Democratic Party points out that Republicans are using the lack of budget to introduce cuts and condition the continuity of health subsidies.
The federal government shutdown is already the second longest in the history of USA. He SNAP, which distributes around US$8 billion to low-income families to buy food, never stopped his payments for a shutdown.
Funds for October had been secured before the closure but the Department of Agriculture reported that the available contingency resources, about US$6,000 million, They cannot be used to cover November paymentsbeing legally reserved for emergencies and natural disasters.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said two-thirds of the funds needed next month could be released, and lawmakers from both parties have already asked the government to do so. At the moment there were no signs from Donald Trump’s administration to take action on the matter.
Meanwhile, several States began warning their beneficiaries about possible delays or cuts in payments. Some, like California, announced emergency measures: Governor Gavin Newsom ordered support from the National Guard and advanced US$80 million in aid for food banks.
The impact will be profound: at the national level, some 16 million children, eight million seniors and four million people with disabilities depend on SNAP benefits.
Shutdown in the US: the regularity of air traffic begins to worry
Another key sector that could be affected by the closure, which has already entered its fifth week, is air transport due to the possibility that controllers will begin to not show up for work due to not receiving the expected payroll.
“Air traffic controllers will stop getting paid starting tomorrow. This is not right!” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who visited an airport control tower in Cleveland, Ohio, wrote in X.
According to the federal payment schedule, controllers They should collect their payroll this Tuesday for the period worked between October 5 and 18.
Source: Ambito
